Commento al mio messaggio inviato a mancalagames@yahoogroups.com:

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This reminds me of the

The History of Bao in Germany
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Many years ago a game company started to sell Bao in Germany. They became
known as "Bao People" ("Bao-Leute"). At this time the boards were still
produced by C.G., a small woodworking shop. Soon both companies ended their
cooperation and C.G. started to sell their Bao boards on their own while the
Bao people had to find a new woodworker. The Bao people registered "Bao" as
a trademark (http://dpinfo.dpma.de/), although generic terms constitute what
is called in German law an "absolute obstacle for protection" (MarkenG §8
Abs. 2 Nr. 1, 3). However, keeping the laws is demanding too much of civil
servants intellectually. According to C.G., the Bao People have not yet paid
all their bills, but even worse the Bao People tried to intimidate them not
to call their four-rank Mancala game "Bao", because this is now a protected
name in Germany (http://webwide-spielen.de/meinung.htm) An unlawful
trademark can be removed in accordance with §50 and § 54 MarkenG by entering
a written petition for removal with the Patent Office. Every person is free
do that, but has to pay in accordance with MarkenG § 64a i.V.m.Ziff.333300
of the supplement to § 2 Abs. 1 of the PatKG a fee of 300,- Euro within
three months according to PatKG §§ 3, 6. It is not permitted to remove the
trade mark by "Amts wegen", that is, a third party must be involved. In
other words, the civil servants who have done a sloppy work and those who
illegally grabbed a trademark to distort normal trading conditions must not
admit any responsibility, while those who would try to end these unlawful
activities are charged. When nobody contradicts an illegal trade mark for 10
years, the trade mark becomes legal, which in this case was on the 1st of
March 2005. 300 Euro may not sound much, but for a small business which is
producing some exotic games it is a substantial amount.
Moreover, it is rather strange that the Federal Republic of Germany has
become the business partner of law-breakers.

Ralf
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Non è incredibile? Immaginate un paese qualsiasi che accetti marchi di
fabbrica tipo "Go", "Shogi" ma anche "Scacchi", "Dama" ecc.?

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