I've read lots of tabletop RPG's and they all have their own name for a FTL drive, etc. Couldn't I use "jump drive" as a generic non-issue? There has got to be something out there where other writers won't come after me. Or I was thinking of a very bland and boring "FTL-xyz" where xyz might be some other "manufacturer's" plant ID or number. This appeals to me more than the other. This would be legit correct?
Not sure what the problem is. But jump drive was used by the maker of a usb flash memory stick as I recall. No connection to FTL whatever, that I know of. So that may not be a non issue with them. I hated the name and most people do not use it nor thumb drive nor any of the other special names manufacturers tried to make popular to help sell their particular device.
“Jump drive” has been used by SF authors for FTL for decades. Multiple authors have used it. I wouldn’t worry about it.
1) You can't trademark something that doesn't exist and won't exist any time soon. Therefore, it's unlikely that any FTL drive name is subject to trademark protection. 2) It's very difficult to copyright really short snips of text: they are usually found to lack the necessary amount of creativity, especially when they are descriptive. "Warp drive," "jump drive," "wormhole drive" -- probably not copyrightable. "Spindizzy" might be I imagine, but Wikipedia says other authors have used it. 3) Using a famous and distinctively named fictional FTL drive of another author might turn off some readers, or might be considered an homage. Rollt he dice if you want.
According the Canadian IP office, "A trademark is a combination of letters, words, sounds or designs that distinguishes one company’s goods or services from those of others in the marketplace." So, yeah, a Jump Drive could be trademarked if someone successfully registered it. Concepts can't be copyrighted, but the wording used to describe it can. It's a complicated subject, but since and IP lawyer gave you the go ahead already, it should be good.
JUMPDRIVE is already trademarked, but it isn't trademarked for faster-than-light drives. It's trademarked for computer storage media. Someone could potentially trademark it for a series of SF books or something like that. But when it comes to trademarks, an important thing to note here is the the OP isn't using the words "jump drive" in a way that would infringe a trademark to begin with.
I had a client try to patent a perpetual motion machine, but I've never had one try to patent an FTL. When we got in front of a patent examiner, the examiner insisted on a working model (as I advised the client in advance he would), because the device violates the laws of thermodynamics. The client then argued that the device didn't actually violate the laws of thermodynamics but only appeared to--the energy it would seemingly create from nowhere was actually coming from another spatial dimension that we can't normally perceive. The examiner still wanted a working model. Luckily, the client had a working model in his garage. Unluckily, the working model required a diesel generator to operate and consumed way more energy than it produced. The examiner was not persuaded by my client's argument that if you simply scaled the thing up to the appropriate size (which was enormous) it would suddenly begin drawing on this alternate dimension and you could ditch the diesel generator. Sorry for the aside.
Patents are also something completely different. My understanding is that mice are available in the marketplace, but you can't patent or copyright them. You also can't trademark mice in general, but you could trademark 'A' mouse. You could also patent processes to create mice or a mouse device, but mice as a concept are not protected under IP laws. Now replace mice with FTL.
Since a patent is a right to exclude, yes. You can use a patent to keep everyone from making or selling a product even if you don't make or sell it. You cannot use a trademark to do that: you can only use it to protect what you make or sell. Depends on where you are: Canadian law seems to differ from European and US law on this: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncomouse
In the U.S. you can get a patent on a mouse. I’ve done that, as well as a method of using the animal as an animal model for medicine.
That's actually pretty cool. But again to the FTL, if someone wrote about that mouse as well as the process, would the person be open to legal action, or would they be relatively safe given they're only talking about it and not constructing, using, or selling it to others to be used?
Writing about it is fine. A patent let’s you exclude others from making, using, or selling. That’s U.S. law.
Yes. With a patent you have to make all the details public. If you have a product that is hard to reverse engineer, a trade secret may be much better.
Makes me curious about what would happen if someone had a trade secret that someone else then independently discovered and tried to patent. So I guess as long as we describe things authentically and avoid using trademarks in the context of the trademark then we should be okay.
It's complicated, but in the US generally the guy with the trade secret is somewhat screwed. That's a downside of TS protection: it does not protect you from independent discovery/invention. Or even from reverse engineering, IIRC, but Trade Secret law is not something I've kept up on. So consult an attorney with TS expertise in your jurisdiction if you need a real answer.
The trade secret guy is screwed out of his trade secret because it doesn’t protect against independent creation.
Although to be clear—the trade secret guy might be able to sink a subsequent patent by another person.
But finding what a company imports and manufactures is easier, then it's all being good at math and the scientific method. Also a like of Coca Cola which makes me o for 3.
There's nothing wrong with "jump drive". But you could always name it after the fictional engineer(s) who made it possible, e.g the Krovitz-Ramamurthy Drive.
