OldCoder wants to trademark “Minetest”

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Wuzzy
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OldCoder wants to trademark “Minetest”

by Wuzzy » Post

To whom it may concern:
OldCoder claims to be currently trying to make the word “Minetest” a trademark in >= 4 countries, solely owned by OldCoder. One of them is Australia.
OldCoder wrote:For what it's worth, things that you may have been told regarding MT events this year are largely falsehoods.

One part that's true is that I'm filing for the MT trademarks. Or attempting to do so; one firm in Australia seems to be backlogged, so I need to find another one there.

I hope to own the trademarks, if this proves to be practical, in at least four countries. This step was approved two years ago by Perttu Ahola. However, to be clear, the situation has changed and it's no longer amicable.
Last edited by Wuzzy on Wed Dec 13, 2017 12:40, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by philipbenr » Post

There has been discussion once or twice about this on IRC.

I honestly don't understand why OldCoder would attempt to trademark something for sole ownership that he didn't make, nor has helped develop to the extent of my knowledge.

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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by v-rob » Post

philipbenr wrote:There has been discussion once or twice about this on IRC.

I honestly don't understand why OldCoder would attempt to trademark something for sole ownership that he didn't make, nor has helped develop to the extent of my knowledge.
Then you haven't read his reasons that he wrote on his website. I have no way of knowing whether his claims are true or not, so I won't say anything about it. As long as he doesn't do something like bring down the forums, ban tons of people, or add any unnecessary legal complications to interacting with Minetest, such as mod-making, then I don't see much problem to this.

I think it's a good thing that Minetest is being trademarked. I don't see why Celeron-55 hasn't done this before.
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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by rubenwardy » Post

v-rob wrote:I don't see why Celeron-55 hasn't done this before.
Lack of money and dislike of bureaucracy.
v-rob wrote:I think it's a good thing that Minetest is being trademarked.
Minetest being trademarked by OldCoder is infinitely worse than no trademark.
OldCoder threatening to file a trademark is nowhere near the worst thing he's done, just read his website.
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Re: Should we rename Minetest? (poll)

by TumeniNodes » Post

Wuzzy wrote:Minetest may be legally forced to be renamed in the near future.
OldCoder is planning to acquire the trademark “Minetest” in >= 4 countries (Australia is one of them).
Why would you feed the miserable troll by posting a link to his libelous website?

A word of "caution" to all, don;t ever tell him you are disinterested in his extremely long, rant pms which he spams all users with (many who are minors), because then he will state that you "threatened" him.

Then he will attempt to scare you by using sights such as Spokeo to publish info about you, and then act like he is some grand-wizard of the web. And state that he will start contacting anyone he can who may be associated with you "for legal and reasonable purposes" (use the voice of an angry child for that quote), and ask them why you support child molesters, etc.. (there are a few attorneys who are just waiting for him to take any of the threatened courses of action)

He is a complete joke, and just a very angry, bitter, spiteful troll, who likes to hide behind his "disability" to harass, and attack anyone who tells him they do not wish him to send them anymore rants
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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by Shara » Post

v-rob wrote: I think it's a good thing that Minetest is being trademarked.
1. OldCoder is at odds with the current team. (Not anything small.)
2. OldCoder wants the trademark... Why do you think he wants it?

No, not a good thing.

Also not a good thing to direct people to a place where he likes to publish as much personal information about MT community members as he can. Is this really needed?

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Re: Should we rename Minetest? (poll)

by GreenXenith » Post

TumeniNodes wrote:Then he will attempt to scare you by using sights such as Spokeo to publish info about you, and then act like he is some grand-wizard of the web.
He funny :P
With some quick Google searching, I know his full name, age, and exact address :P
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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by maikerumine » Post

People, let's quell this thread. It doesn't seem like a good idea.
Talamh Survival Minetest-->viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12959

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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by duane » Post

maikerumine wrote:People, let's quell this thread. It doesn't seem like a good idea.
Why do you say that? Do you think that the trademark is a non-issue? Has someone violated the forum rules? I've experienced some of OldCoder's behavior -- I haven't seen anything stated here that isn't arguably true, and it seems to bear on the trademark issue.
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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by philipbenr » Post

The trademark is a legitimate issue, as is the user OldCoder, as he is at odds with the Minetest developer team, as said above. However, this is not an invitation to get fired up and attack users, including OldCoder, as that is only something he has been shown to turn into a much bigger problem, and is not something that should go on the forums.

I am of the opinion the thread should continue to address the issue of the trademark, rather than address the user OldCoder, as that's what the original post by Wuzzy was about. Relevant details of OldCoder's behavior and intentions have been said, so there is little to nothing more to be said about him I would think. However, if there is more to say about OldCoder that is relevant to the trademark issue, it can, and I'd hazard to say, should be included.

And remember, this is something that should in the end be resolved by the core developer team and/or Celeron-55, as they are the ones who have the most right to Minetest/represent Minetest the best, as they made and upkeep it.

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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by maikerumine » Post

philipbenr wrote:The trademark is a legitimate issue, as is the user OldCoder, as he is at odds with the Minetest developer team, as said above. However, this is not an invitation to get fired up and attack users, including OldCoder, as that is only something he has been shown to turn into a much bigger problem, and is not something that should go on the forums.

I am of the opinion the thread should continue to address the issue of the trademark, rather than address the user OldCoder, as that's what the original post by Wuzzy was about. Relevant details of OldCoder's behavior and intentions have been said, so there is little to nothing more to be said about him I would think. However, if there is more to say about OldCoder that is relevant to the trademark issue, it can, and I'd hazard to say, should be included.

And remember, this is something that should in the end be resolved by the core developer team and/or Celeron-55, as they are the ones who have the most right to Minetest/represent Minetest the best, as they made and upkeep it.
This is what i had meant, let's leave the doxxing issues out, and stick to just trademark. Nothing good can come from bringing OC into the discussion with doxxing mentioned, regardless if it is related, that could be another thread if need be.

I just hope I can still make mods and games like the rest of you without too much trouble in regards to trademark laws.
Talamh Survival Minetest-->viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12959

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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by Wuzzy » Post

Rubenwardy, why did you remove the link?
Is it in violation of forum rules?

Note I have posted the link as proof to show I didn't make this up. This is the only reason. It's important to always give the source of a quote.

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Re: Trademark?

by BlockyMcBlockFace » Post

Wuzzy wrote:Minetest may be legally forced to be renamed in the near future.
OldCoder is planning to acquire the trademark “Minetest” in >= 4 countries (Australia is one of them).

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18946
I'm not familiar with the feud between Minetest and the guy who's doing this, but in my personal opinion it's probably for the best anyway. Open source projects have a long-standing reputation for picking the most unappealing names possible, but Minetest just takes the cake. I simply can't, with a straight face, recommend a game (or "game engine" as dumbass pedants never fail to point out) with "test" on its name. The few times I tried I wasn't taken seriously and I don't blame them, it does sound like I'm trying to sell them some bullshit half-baked experimental thing. This and the lack of development resources that aren't five-year-old garbage are my main beefs with Minetest.

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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by azekill_DIABLO » Post

WTF? He has the right to do that? It souds like some bad fake news. And for which purpose he really wants to use minetest.
>BTW: i'm surprised, I didn't know it was possible to want to own such a bad trademak :3
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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by rubenwardy » Post

Wuzzy wrote:Rubenwardy, why did you remove the link? Is it in violation of forum rules? Note I have posted the link as proof to show I didn't make this up. This is the only reason. It's important to always give the source of a quote.
After concerns being raised by multiple community members, the moderator team have decided to remove direct links to such a toxic site. Any users interested can just search the quote for their own research.
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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by shivajiva » Post

If the trademark is granted on the basis of a lie of ownership and contribution, there will be nobody of value left to develop minetest.

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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by Gael de Sailly » Post

I've already been spammed by that website, I have no idea about how it found my personal email address. If this is really OldCoder that is on the head of this site, and that the same person is trying to trademark the game, this is potaneially one of the most serious threats that the game and its community has known. Something else I worry about is that this website is a misleading minetest site that can possibly drive new players in the wrong direction, and its popularity is increasing, I noticed that within the months it's closer and closer from the top of the list in search engines when you search "Minetest".
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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by shivajiva » Post

that website is set up to collect information used to identify visitors, the bait is the subject matter contained within.
SEO is pushing it's ranking up

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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by voxelproof » Post

rubenwardy wrote:
v-rob wrote:I don't see why Celeron-55 hasn't done this before.
Lack of money and dislike of bureaucracy.
v-rob wrote:I think it's a good thing that Minetest is being trademarked.
Minetest being trademarked by OldCoder is infinitely worse than no trademark.
OldCoder threatening to file a trademark is nowhere near the worst thing he's done, just read his website.
Haha. Now I have a full clarity. Honestly I didn't know anything about this affair before reading this thread, however was sure that Minetest would have troubles of this kind :-))

Well, 'dislike of bureaucracy', though fully understandable from my point of view, is not an optimistic prospect for a project overshadowed by a 2.4bn$ worth Ender Dragon.
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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by maikerumine » Post

If Minetest were to be trademarke'd by OC, would we not be able to use, play, or host servers anymore if he says so? If so That would really really suck.
Talamh Survival Minetest-->viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12959

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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by GamingAssociation39 » Post

voxelproof wrote:Haha. Now I have a full clarity. Honestly I didn't know anything about this affair before reading this thread, however was sure that Minetest would have troubles of this kind :-))

Well, 'dislike of bureaucracy', though fully understandable from my point of view, is not an optimistic prospect for a project overshadowed by a 2.4bn$ worth Ender Dragon.
I feel MineTest is great as it is with the community. If he would do what he's trying to do who knows what he would do to try to destroy the community. MineTest is a community driven project. Everyone gets along and helps each other out. If someone lacks in one area another person is usually willing to help when they are available. I'm very greatful for the help of Nathan.S, Bell07, V-Rob, Toby109tt and many others for their time.
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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by teenspirit » Post

People, fear not. The trademark systems are smarter than you think they are. In the US, you have to be the person currently in control of the goods or service to trademark a name or logo. He isn't, and has no ability to do that. The US system is used to handling these attempts on open source projects. The Australian system also has its rules about this. He wasn't the creator of the item he wants to trademark, he doesn't hold any majority or exceptional standing in the company or entity in charge of the goods or service that are labeled by the trademark, so he has no right to the trademark. I'm sure the other countries he wants to own the trademark in have all these similar requirements and factors. It would likely take a half million dollars in legal fees to bury a massive, active community, a dev team, several forums, and hundreds of servers, all run by people other than OC. So no worries, these are the rantings of a crazy person, not a serious threat.

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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by voxelproof » Post

GamingAssociation39 wrote: I feel MineTest is great as it is with the community. If he would do what he's trying to do who knows what he would do to try to destroy the community. MineTest is a community driven project. Everyone gets along and helps each other out. If someone lacks in one area another person is usually willing to help when they are available. I'm very greatful for the help of Nathan.S, Bell07, V-Rob, Toby109tt and many others for their time.
I have similar feelings towards this project. After all I spent tens of hours playing it and - although this sort of diverting activity is not of a primary importance compared to other everyday chores - if it somehow dissapeared, went into shambles or something like that, it would make me simply sad. And I think that many others too.

So, it's once again a good opportunity to say great thank you to all developers, contributors and ordinary members of the Minetest community for keeping it alive.
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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by u19503 » Post

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 :)

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Re: “Minetest” may become a trademark, owned by OldCoder

by Linuxdirk » Post

Naj wrote: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

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