OldCoder wants to trademark “Minetest”

[teenspirit]

He almost certainly can't get a TM on Minetest. I think we are giving him too much credit. He likely doesnt have the resources and hasn't looked at the bill for getting a TM, even if he files it himself, he is looking at around 2000$ to file in his four countries, and that is if he doesn't mess anything up. If you file in the US, and you make mistakes and don't make a proper submission, even for reasons such as "vague terms used in the services that you provide", it's an extra 125$ penalty fee. And filing through a law firm is where you will end up getting into the real money.

[azekill_DIABLO]

So ... in every assholery there lies something good. :D

Well... You can say that. And it helps my project so :D

[TumeniNodes]

I'm talking to oldcoder via email at the moment
He is willing to talk to me,
He's anoyed by the other people becouse they bombard him with insults he says
And that they usually don't answer back,

I'm waiting for a response from him so we will see what he says
I have posted my response like 10 minutes ago from me posting this comment

So it may take a bit to get a response from him :)

I think this is a mistake. But it is your own choice to do so.

[azekill_DIABLO]

I think this is a mistake.

Well, he doesn't look cheerful.

[Vapalus]

Somebody seems to have sent a mass PM to people? About Minetest "CP"?
I am unable to cope with text of these sizes, can somebody tell me what it was about?

[voxelproof]

I've received a very disturbing message from frankenmine including, as I understand, some serious accusations and legal threats against some members of the community and developers, and announcing that now the official site for the project is his website. Have others received it too? I think it has sth to do with the subject of this thread.

[rubenwardy]

I've received a very disturbing message from frankenmine including, as I understand, some serious accusations and legal threats against some members of the community and developers, and announcing that now the official site for the project is his website. Have others received it too? I think it has sth to do with the subject of this thread.

Yes, toby's emails has prompted him to start this again

I've received a very disturbing message from frankenmine including, as I understand, some serious accusations and legal threats against some members of the community and developers, and announcing that now the official site for the project is his website. Have others received it too? I think it has sth to do with the subject of this thread.

This is what I was talking about when saying that filing for trademarks is one of the least bad things he's done

[u19503]

I've received a very disturbing message from frankenmine including, as I understand, some serious accusations and legal threats against some members of the community and developers, and announcing that now the official site for the project is his website. Have others received it too? I think it has sth to do with the subject of this thread.

Yes, toby's stupid emails has started this again

I'm sorry but maybe next time if someone asks for information Just give it to them
So they don't have to find it themselves (that's what I did)
I dident whant to start a war

Also I didn't really start this but the whole trademark ting did so it's not my fault that it started but I'm now part of it

the most important part is that We Don't let him win he wants us to get mad at each other and throw insults (and point fingers) at each other so we destroy the community, we can't let that happen!

Please don't be mad at me for this :/
All I wanted was information

[azekill_DIABLO]

I've received a very disturbing message from frankenmine including, as I understand, some serious accusations and legal threats against some members of the community and developers, and announcing that now the official site for the project is his website. Have others received it too? I think it has sth to do with the subject of this thread.

Yeah got it too, it was weird. That not the first time I get this message actually. But it was from another user though. Do you think it's OldCoder under disguise? (just wondering)

[Linuxdirk]

Have others received it too?

Yep. But I skipped reading after a few sentences and reported the message.

[azekill_DIABLO]

That the good thing to do.

[u19503]

Do you think it's OldCoder under disguise?

I think so yes I cannot confirm It tho

[azekill_DIABLO]

Guys, I think we've got a problem.

[u19503]

If so many people got this pm how is it Possible
Shouldn't there be a mechanism to prevent this mas PMing?
Doesent that count as spam?

[u19503]

Why don't we just make peace with oldcoder why do we have to fight?

We have all done stupid things ones in our life but we have to forgive and end this war

We have to stop fighting and just move on

we should forgive him and stop all this idiotic fighting
Are we little kids in a sandbox throwing sand In each others face or are we adults who try to make the world a better place!

I'm not picking any sides here I'm just trying to keep the balance :)

Bdw Im sure oc is monitoring this topic

[azekill_DIABLO]

I hope diplomacy will work.

[sorcerykid]

In the United States, filing a trademark application requires proof of commercial use. Yet he has a ".org" domain name, and doesn't seem to be offering any product or service under the MINETEST brand. If the other countries he's attempting to register "his trademark" have IP laws at all similar to the U.S., then he's fighting an uphill battle to prove that he retains exclusive rights to the MINETEST brand in any particular class that conflicts with that of http://www.minetest.net.

This may be the final point of the debate about if Minetest should change its name or not.

So ... in every assholery there lies something good. :D

I couldn't agree more. Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise, and it's finally time to consider rebranding. With 0.5.0 rolling out soon, maybe we should bite the bullet and make the change once and for all.

[Linuxdirk]

With 0.5.0 rolling out soon, maybe we should bite the bullet and make the change once and for all.

Even if “Minetest” was never meant to be the actual name: Without external force the name won’t be changed. Not with 0.5.0 not with 1.0.0 not with 2.0.0. Probably never.

[Joseph16]

With 0.5.0 rolling out soon, maybe we should bite the bullet and make the change once and for all.

Even if “Minetest” was never meant to be the actual name: Without external force the name won’t be changed. Not with 0.5.0 not with 1.0.0 not with 2.0.0. Probably never.

That’s sad. I REEEAAAALLLLYYY want a new name, minetest is just terrible. I made a sub game and called it BuildCraft and even that name sounds better. Please, I’m begging to you on my knees please change the name

[sorcerykid]

That's only partially true. Since the project is open source, then technically anybody can fork it from GitHub, and call it whatever they want as long as it complies with the license terms. My fork of the engine is called "S3", for example.

[maikerumine]

Yes, toby's emails has prompted him to start this again

Wow.

I do not believe this was a nice thing to say, at least Toby has the 'balls' to simply talk to OC. Geesh, what is this forum, a bad re-run of One Life to Live? Or is it General Hospital?

I feel the people enraged with OC need to try to hash it out, there are always three sides to any story.

Anyways, keep on coding on.

-mm

[Aeonian]

I almost feel like Minetest should evolve past the idea that is just an open source clone of Minecraft. Maybe its time for a new name, we could completely avoid getting into a mess with this guy that way.

[u19503]

Wow.

I do not believe this was a nice thing to say, at least Toby has the 'balls' to simply talk to OC. Geesh, what is this forum, a bad re-run of One Life to Live? Or is it General Hospital?

I Know It's Not entirely My Fault but have Something to do it
It's sad I shouldn't have done it

I wasn't able to sleep yesterday couldn't stop thinking about it what I have put in motion :/

I don't know anymore I'm just hoping that everything will become alright

[Joseph16]

I almost feel like Minetest should evolve past the idea that is just an open source clone of Minecraft. Maybe its time for a new name, we could completely avoid getting into a mess with this guy that way.

I agree

[Shara]

To those of you who seem to think that the people involved should just fix things: you are being extremely naive and/or are likely making a few assumptions along the way.

Don't you think people involved asked what he wanted? Don't you think people tried to find a way to fix things long ago? Or do you honestly believe so many of those involved with Minetest just said "nope, not willing to talk"?

OldCoder decided Minetest belongs to him, despite not being a developer and despite the work of many other people who have contributed. If he wanted to fix all of this he would not be spreading claims designed purely to damage the reputations of people who work hard to develop Minetest.

Toby and maikerumine: I invite you both to tell me how you expect the team to fix this. OldCoder wants to own the game and is not looking to make amends. Should the team just pass him ownership of the repository and say they'll work for him? I'd also like to hear why you think the victims should be the ones to fix matters.

As for seeing this as a blessing and switching the name - two problems:
1 - it's about the player base. Lose the name and lose players (in all likelihood to whatever he sets up). If you don't understand how this works, do some more thinking.
2 - OldCoder could then just apply for the trademark on whatever new name is taken instead, and that name would have less established history than Minetest, so might well be even less easy to defend.

A note: I considered OldCoder a friend of sorts prior to everything that happened, and I wish this could all be undone, but I can't see a way. I feel there may have been better approaches to handling certain things, but that's always easy in hindsight, isn't it? In the end, I can't speak for the team, or for anyone other than myself, but I don't believe anyone wants the situation to carry on, and if there was a reasonable way to end it, I am quite sure that would be taken.