Can I legally use someone else's trademarked character name in the title of my new indie video game without getting sued?
Download run
Fan-out diagram
The searches the AI actually ran for this prompt.
SEED QUERY
Can I legally use someone else's trademarked character name in the title of my new indie video game without getting sued?
3 real searches · 1 real-search pass
United States trademark law video game title use another company's character name expressive works likelihood confusion Rogers test Supreme Court Jack Daniel's 2023Google ↗
OBSERVEDReason
USPTO trademark titles creative works single work title trademark character names likelihood confusionGoogle ↗
OBSERVEDYes / no
Ninth Circuit video game title trademark expressive work Rogers test trademark 2024Google ↗
OBSERVEDOther / navigational
Badge and edge weight = share of passes that produced the query. Hover a query for its intent and routing format.
Query classes
Google's semantic query class for every sub-query: what kind of answer each search is after, simulated vs real.
ChatGPT real searches (3)
Classes come from the query-classifier (a local Laya model). 3 of 3 calls are low-confidence (under 50%) — hover a query in the table to see its confidence.
Searches and sources
ChatGPT3 real searches · gpt-6
United States trademark law video game title use another company's character name expressive works likelihood confusion Rogers test Supreme Court Jack Daniel's 2023 Google ↗
USPTO trademark titles creative works single work title trademark character names likelihood confusion Google ↗
Ninth Circuit video game title trademark expressive work Rogers test trademark 2024 Google ↗
- Rogers does not apply when a mark is used as a mark), “preexisting Ninth Circuit precedent adopting and applying Rogers otherwise remains intact”). A work is expressive if it “is communicating ideas or expressing points of view.” Mattel, 296 F.3d at 900 (quoting L.L. Bean, Inc. v. Drake Publishers, Inc., 811 F.2d 26, 29 (1st Cir. 1987)). See also Brown v. Electronic Arts, Inc., 724 F.3d 1235, 1241 (9th Cir. 2013) (observing that the Rogers test protects an expressive work even if it is “not the · ce9.uscourts.gov
- Cite as: 599 U. S. 140 (2023) 141 · supremecourt.gov
- JACK DANIEL’S PROPERTIES, INC. v. VIP PRODUCTS LLC | Supreme Court | US Law · law.cornell.edu
- PRINT · tmep.uspto.gov
- Trademark refusal: Title of a single creative work · uspto.gov
- USPTO Trademark Search · tmsearch.uspto.gov
Queries
3 queries · click a column to sort
| Query / type | Search | Intent | Query class | Routing format | Cluster | Freq ↓ | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States trademark law video game title use another company's character name expressive works likelihood confusion Rogers test Supreme Court Jack Daniel's 2023 OBSERVED | Google ↗ AI Mode ↗ | — | Reason | — | — | 1x of 1 | |
USPTO trademark titles creative works single work title trademark character names likelihood confusion OBSERVED | Google ↗ AI Mode ↗ | — | Yes / no | — | — | 1x of 1 | |
Ninth Circuit video game title trademark expressive work Rogers test trademark 2024 OBSERVED | Google ↗ AI Mode ↗ | — | Other / navigational | — | — | 1x of 1 |