Spark 1.0 released

[gerold]

This is unfortunate news to me, as I had never heard of this SparkChess before.

The first public version of my Spark engine was released in the fall of 2009. When I chose the name Spark in July 2009, I googled for combinations of Spark and chess and found nothing.

According to their faq, http://www.sparkchess.com/faq.html, they changed the name of this engine from flashCHESS to SparkChess sometime in 2010:
...................................

Hello Mr.Siemelink

I understand. But SparkChess of Media Division SRL is a registered trade
mark. Yours ?

Regards,
Silvian

Hi Silvain,

It appears that neither party has the SparkChess trademark registered, or claim to have registered it.
Anyway, thank you for bringing this issue to my attention.

-Allard

Also a double thank you :
-for the interest in this issue;
-for your new chess engine version !

Regards,
Silvian

Interesting engine. In the first half of games with Critter it plays
strong. In latter part of game it slowly declines losing
6 games in row to Critter. Fun games.

Best,
Gerold.

[IGarcia]

This is unfortunate news to me, as I had never heard of this SparkChess before.

The first public version of my Spark engine was released in the fall of 2009. When I chose the name Spark in July 2009, I googled for combinations of Spark and chess and found nothing.

According to their faq, http://www.sparkchess.com/faq.html, they changed the name of this engine from flashCHESS to SparkChess sometime in 2010:
...................................

Hello Mr.Siemelink

I understand. But SparkChess of Media Division SRL is a registered trade
mark. Yours ?

Regards,
Silvian

Hi Silvain,

It appears that neither party has the SparkChess trademark registered, or claim to have registered it.
Anyway, thank you for bringing this issue to my attention.

-Allard

Seems they claim to have "sparkchess.com" registered (the domain) ad the upper logo has a "tm" over "sparkchess" all together, not two words.

I think you should not worry because you have an chess engine called "spark". The only think i see can conflict is the title on your web page, wich can be easy changed to "spark chess" (a space in middle) or spark chess engine...

BTW is very hard to trademark simple words, like "water", "air", "hello" and i bet "spark" is in the list.

More:

If you have used from before they can not force to change. At least your spark versions previous to the registration can remain like that.

If this guys want you to give up name i think it has to be done with a deal. And probably they registered the name a different country you leave.

If I where in your place, I just change the title in home page, showing good attitude. And wait for any other action from their part (doing nothing). If they bother you.. only then ask a crow .. sorry: a lawyer

BTW: Ty for this new spark version. Will be good competitor in Martin division 2 tournament.

[Allard Siemelink]

Thank you for your thoughts.

btw, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark ,
"(r)" would be the symbol for a registered trademark, while
"tm" is a designator of unregistered trademarks

[IGarcia]

Thank you for your thoughts.

btw, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark ,
"(r)" would be the symbol for a registered trademark, while
"tm" is a designator of unregistered trademarks

Is just very complicated. Probably is in one way in USA, other in Netherlands, different in Russia or Brazil...

Dont worry, be happy.

[UncombedCoconut]

Interesting engine. In the first half of games with Critter it plays
strong. In latter part of game it slowly declines losing
6 games in row to Critter. Fun games.

I've been waiting for an excuse to re-coin the "POIDH" acronym as "PGN or it didn't happen". Perhaps this is my chance?

[Tom Barrister]

For the record (and note that I'm not an attorney):

(tm) ™ (goods), or (sm) ℠ (services) designation means that the mark (which can be such as non-public-domain words, sounds, logos, color combinations, etc.) has been claimed but not registered. Such claims can sometimes be enforced if the product has been used in commerce, the claimant has used the mark before anybody else, and the mark wasn't registered by anybody else.

The R in a circle ® means that the mark has been registered with a government trademark bureau, i.e. the United States Patent and Trademark Office or the UK Intellectual Property Office.

Of course, it's easier to protect registered marks than it is unregistered marks.

A trademark's registration in one country doesn't necessarily mean it will be honored in a country that it isn't specifically registered in, although some countries often honor trademarks registered in some others. Also, a trademark's rights can be restricted to specific fields (Use for similar goods or services).

As for the "sparkchess" issue here, Sparkchess appears to be a web-based game that was produced by Media Division. I doubt that the game has been around as long as the company, as is implied on the site. Media Division could possibly claim a trademark infringement. Enforcing it would be another matter; it would be costly and probably not worth pursuing, and since it wasn't actually registered, it would be unlikely to hold up in a court of law. My guess is that they wouldn't even bother.

It should be noted that simply putting a space between the two words doesn't necessarily mean the trademark can be registered; the courts do examine similiarities and enforce the likelihood of confusion.

The bottom line, in my opinion, is that Mr. Siemelink shouldn't worry about it until if and when SparkChess makes a request to cease and desist. Unless the infringement is much more obvious and direct than this appears to be, notice would have to be served first.

If Mr. Siemelink wishes to cover his backside, it would be a simple matter to rename his engine to merely "Spark", or possibly to "Spark Chess Engine". Another possibility would be to add a simple disclaimer to site stating that he is not affiliated with Media Division or its Sparkchess game.

[beachknight]

wow. thanks.

I am late this time...

[Allard Siemelink]

Thanks.
For the record, my engine's name is Spark, so it already has the name you suggested.
Also, Spark's public presence (October 2009) definately predates Media Division's product's rebrand.
See http://www.media-division.com/news-2010.html :

March 1, 2010
Our smash hit flashCHESS gets a rebrand as SparkChess and a major update, introducing...

Although I assume no malintent on their part, I'd sure wish that Media Division had avoided any confusion by using a different name.

[swami]

Hi Allard,

First of all, thanks for updating the sharp tactical engine!

Spark is not corresponding well with STS in Arena. For some reason it fails to respond, this is unlike the older versions. I hope the bug which exists in this case will be fixed.

Best regards,
Swami

[Allard Siemelink]

Hi Allard,

First of all, thanks for updating the sharp tactical engine!

Spark is not corresponding well with STS in Arena. For some reason it fails to respond, this is unlike the older versions. I hope the bug which exists in this case will be fixed.

Best regards,
Swami

Thanks, I'll have a look