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Rift: Planes of Telara: Palladium Books Sues Trion Worlds
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Ummm...please explain. Apart from invasion via interdimesional portals, where are these parallels? As has been mentioned several times in this thread alone, extraplanar rifts have been a well-established plot device in imaginative fiction for some time. It's nothing new and Kevin Siembieda sure didn't invent it!
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
The really shitty part is that you don't have to be the one who invents it to trademark it. You just have to be first to file the papers.
Personally, I figured this was going to happen. I also don't really care one way or the other. I plan to play this game regardless of what they call it. If they deliver on HALF of what they've promised it'll still be an awesome game.
And yeah... I'd KILL for an actual RIFTS mmorpg.
To the guy who said your group never lasted.... you need a better group and a competent GM. I had a group that lasted nearly 3 years playing the same characters through the same campaign. Of course... if you're a run-of-the-mill human and go walking across a battlefield while mega-damage is being thrown around, you don't deserve to keep playing that character. lol.
No godless person can comprehend those minute distinctions
in doctrine that provide true believers excuse for mayhem.
-Glen Cook
OMG you stepped on my foot! I'm gonna SUE you!. Lets sue everyone for breathing the same air. Hey now I breathed it first I wrote it down! See! I wanna be rich for being a whiney baby... please.. oh please please... Ugh..
Trion has nothing to worry about regarding their IP or game concept.
They might have to drop the "Rift" part of the name. Palladium's case really only has one basis: Does the name Rift: Planes of Telara potentially cause confusion in the market? That is because the name "Rift" is a trademark for a PnP roleplaying game. Trion's lawyers have undoubtedly already expected this, and will argue that not only is the word "Rift" generic enough, but the market is not even the same.
The Palladium pnp RPG was the first thing that I thought of when I heard about Planes of Telara changing their name. So yeah the possibility of association is there... and this isn't frivolity or greed, it's a company protecting it's copyright. If they don't at least put on a show when someone uses their copywritten names they could lose their copyrights completely.
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"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
Member Since March 2004
ahh the truama...the pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!. See you all who posted in courts your remarks have scard me for life! ... i think im going blind .. i think ill sue over that also!
Well, that was an easy call. Anyone who knows Siembieda's rep could have seen this coming a Mega-verse away. Yeah, a Rifts MMORPG would be cool.
This is hardly surprising given that Siembieda is the PnP version of Derek Smart. Like Smart he puts out sub-par products and makes boasts with little concern for the truth. And he not only has a habit of threatening fansites with lawsuits, but also has a reputation for ripping off and abusing the people he hires to write his books.
http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=12632
http://spleen.mearcair.net/rifts/coffin.htm
And I find his begging during the 'Crisis of Treachery' rather tacky.
http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=6109
http://forums.palladium-megaverse.com/viewtopic.php?t=57380
RIFTS was the first thing I thought of too. But so what? It's not the first time a name reminds us of another rpg product. And that's all it was - one name reminiscent of another.
in Rifts defence, when i first saw the name, i thought about the PnP game, which gives them a case.
now, that aside, they need to make the Rifts game already, Mega-damage aside, that can be rebalanced, the world is really interesting, and its a genre defier. i want to play a SAMAS coalition, or a Dogboy.
Same here. "Rift" immediately made me think of "Rifts" pnp. Then I read into the details and thought even more that it was a game based off of Palladium.
I'm quite amused by the massive amount of "company A suing company B" that's been happening as of late. It's getting completely ridiculous nowadays. However in this case, I have to agree. Palladium's game system is clearly expressed in both title and playstyle.
So that's it for this week's "Who's suing who?" Please stay tuned for next week's edition featuring "Activision/Blizzard sues Alganon".
NEWS FLASH! PAYING THE SUB IN F2P = NO DIFFERENCE THAN P2P GAMES!
Why the hell can't the whiners comprehend this?
There is no case. It's good for rifts to get some attention but in this way? It seems so sad and pathetic.
There comes a time when enough is enough.
Their mark is Rifts.
Game is Rift.
Done deal, regardless of "how it may be mixed up" Pepsi Cola is able to use Cola, as is every other Cola company IE Cocacola.
I've seen this dispute a few times in my years. It's a dispute that's going to costs those poor bastards at Rifts money. They will end up paying the court costs once they lose and if the defendant goes hard enough they could ruin the small company.
Small companies need to use common sense. I certainly hope their small profits can hold their costs.
If not , good day Rifts.
The problem is copyright law. In order to retain the rights to something you have to get court rulings on similarities such as this, whether your company wants to go to court or not.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
It's not specificly about the word itself but the context of the word and what it implies I believe.
Actually Rift and Rifts are both trademarked by Palladium games for the Rifts game.
Well, thats the system. Anyone (in the US) can sue anyone over anything. Its a farce, but so long as the special interests own the politicians, thats the way its going to stay. As Ash said, "Good, Bad, I'm the one with the gun". ^^
Actually, as long as all the politicians are attorneys, that is the way it will be. They need jobs to return to once we fire them.
Siembieda deserves to win - the game is lifted right from his intellectual property, name and all. Trion should have licensed it, stupidity on their part thinking that they could get away with it.
If they'd have stayed with the "Heroes of.." title and called the Rifts "planar tears" or "Intersections" or something, they MIGHT have gotten away with it...
Too bad there isn't a REAL Rifts MMO being made. Impossible to balance, other than limiting what can pass through the curtains, but great premise nonetheless.
<p align=center><a target=_blank href=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm><img border=0 src=http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/20.jpg></a></p>;
Agree it was only a matter of time. Trion should have known...they might as well fess up and change the name of their game.
Wow, what a BS lawsuit. If the game were just called Rift, I could see the point, but it isn't. I guess now they should sue over the title of the PS3 game Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, or Chasm: The Rift, or even Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift. Ohh, and how about suing the makers of the show Tripping the Rift?
I guess Palladium's lawyers are going to be busy this year. Seriously, this is just as silly and frivolous as White Wolf suing over the whole Underworld thing. An attempted cash grab by a company which is probably having financial trouble.
More power to Palladium! Trion should have done their due diligence on this, they deserve to get their hands slapped.
Warhammer fanatic since '85.
I don't really see how there is a case here... the concept of a rift as an inter-dimensional fracture is used throughout countless sci-fi and fantasy media, it's a trope of the genre. Since the names aren't identical and the medium they're using are entirely different I honestly don't see the problem. I thought there were laws in place to prevent people claiming ownership of such things?
... Ok. Well, just call it Planes of Telara and save the lawyer fees.
Rifts has been around for 20 years. If you look at this game, they are seriously infringing on Palladiums trademarks. Heck just looking at the website (for the game) I can think to myself "My god, didnt their design people do research? This IS background for the Rifts(tm) RPG" So yes, they need to change a LOT of their game, as they are infringing.
As for "Why doesnt Palladium just got off their asses and make an MMORPG" the answer is, well, don't you think they are working at it? Think about it this way, they let Planes of Telara go this time. Palladium talks with oh I dont know Turbine lets say about an MMORPG. They put stuff out and suddenly Trion sues Palladium because they have a game called Rift:Planes of Telara blahblah blah....
So basically if they don't fight for what is theirs now, it might bite them in the ass later.
Palladium should absolutely win this fight. How can they not?
Basically, what a lot of you guys are saying is that Trion should be able to take the Rift name. What if Palladium wants to make an MMO in 5 years? Guess what, they can't call it Rifts. This is not a frivolous lawsuit, or a money grab. Palladiumn is protecting its future. Trion will have to change the name, and there will be no monetary settlement. Not sure why you guys think Palladium is sueing a company that has never seen a profit for money.
How much can you get when you sue someone with zero assets(or someone will file bankruptcy, which Trion Worlds would be forced to do)? Answer: zero.
Actually go look at their webpage on "The Rifts of Telara" and people will see it's more than "OMG they used Rift in the title!"