Soo.. Cyber Knights...

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tr ... escription

Kevin may want to reach out to these guys, if this could be considered a trademark or copyright violation.

I doubt its malicious or anything.

[Axelmania]

I'm surprised Palladium hasn't already encountered some complications with that trademark. Just 2 months after the August 1990 debut of Rifts, in October 1990 there was a Japanese computer game released called サイバーナイト which even has an article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Knight and apparently it had a 1992 sequel called "Cyber Knight II: Chikyū Teikoku no Yabō"

My guess is that they were simultaneously developed and that it's just a coincidence. But the tolerance against that game in the last 30 years might count as some kind of precedent against prosecuting others who use it.

RUE2's list of trademarks mentions "Cyber-Knight" but not "Cyber Knight" so it might just be the hyphenated form that's trademarked?

"Flashpoint" taking place in the year 2231 while サイバーナイト takes place in the "24th century" makes me wonder if it might even be intended as a prequel to the Japanese RPGs? I don't really know enough to compare their contents.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

Like i said, i seriously doubt its malicious or anything.

Its a small development team that up until this point has done mostly 2D games.

Just thought it was worth a mention.

[Zer0 Kay]

Just like McFarlane with his last line of Spawn figures that never came out where the bad guys were called Mechanoids. I told Pally and McFarlane hasn't made a line since... kina screwed since I was collecting his figures.

[Axelmania]

McFarlane with his last line of Spawn figures that never came out
where the bad guys were called Mechanoids

First I'm hearing of this, but http://www.toydorks.com/displayproduct.php?item=118973 supports what you say:

SPAWN enters the machine age with Series 35: Robot Wars. The historic 35th line of SPAWN action figures makes the leap to the year 3047, when a heroic team of robot warriors fights to defend Earth from the unstoppable force of the villainous Mechanoid Army.

Any idea what year/month this line came out? Curious how this relates to the Nightspawn > Nightbane change.

Like is it possible one led to the other?

[Zer0 Kay]

The Nightspawn night band happened first. I thought if TM was an ass and waited till after NS came out then KS should be better and do the C&D before Todd wasted all his money producing the toyline.

[Axelmania]

Is it clear that KS knew about Mechanoids being used for the toyline prior to it's debut though?

[Zer0 Kay]

Is it clear that KS knew about Mechanoids being used for the toyline prior to it's debut though?

No. It is only clear that I notified them and they whoever answered the email said he would notify Kevin and not a single mass produced unit was released as opposed to Nightspawn being sold.

[Blue_Lion]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/cyber-knights/description

Kevin may want to reach out to these guys, if this could be considered a trademark or copyright violation.

I doubt its malicious or anything.

He could not stop Rift from being made, despite having tried a law suit.

[Axelmania]

Ah, I sometimes get that game polluting my search results for Rifts.

https://www.engadget.com/2010/05/11/pal ... fts-title/

I guess that's why they initially used "Heroes of Telara" prior to "RIFT: Planes of Telara". Shortening it to just "RIFT" seems like unnecessary note-thumbing TBH.

My guess is this was important to Palladium because 10 years ago they were still probably courting the idea of an MMORPG based on RIFTS?

If that ever got resurrected, I'd probably just call the game "MEGAVERSE" or "MINION WAR" or something along those lines. Rifts could be incorporated into the title ("MEGAVERSE RIFTS"), but having 'rifts' along as a game title is probably a bad idea because search results could get polluted.

It's too bad some kind of settlement couldn't be worked out (make Telara into a Rifts Dimension Book while having the game expand to include all of Palladium's settings) so we could have the MMO everyone is pining for.

Did someone at least attempt a MUD or MUSH? Closest I remember is one which based a 'confesser' class on Wormwood's Apok but expanded them with new abilities. That would've made a great Rifter supplement TBH. http://www.retromud.org/#guildsxml?=secondary:confessor

Deep within every warrior of good is the potential for turning to absolute evil.

Many malevolent forces, the Nameless One chief amongst them, know this, and will not hesitate to show those who walk the path of light how easily they and those like them can fall to the darkness.

Confessors have stared into the face of evil and seen their own reflection.

It is not enough for them to merely face evil.

They must conquer the darkness within and use it to make evil face itself.

The Confessor is deemed worthy by proving herself in the hollow temples of Crypt, watched over by the ancient gods of justice who came before even Sikkar.

Once proven, a Confessor accesses her incredible powers by calling forth her subjugated malevolence in the form of a Demon Mask.

This mask, once summoned, is bonded to the Confessor's face and cannot be removed by mortal means, or until all evil is vanquished.

The Confessors know just how hopeless a task they face.

Perhaps their drive is the hope of redemption by turning their murderous rage on evil.

Perhaps it is the cold, calculating zeal that drives their blows.

Or perhaps Confessors are just out of control killing machines who have picked a side.

Whatever their reasons, for a Confessor, it is always a good day to die.

These guys really ought to put a disclaimer there of how this is basically just an adaptation of the text written for the Apok OCC. This is more than parallels after all, pretty sure I recognize specific phrases here...

[glitterboy2098]

Just like McFarlane with his last line of Spawn figures that never came out where the bad guys were called Mechanoids. I told Pally and McFarlane hasn't made a line since... kina screwed since I was collecting his figures.

pretty sure that McFarlane wouldn't have been able make their claim stick given that Dr. Who and the BBC used it first back in the mid 60's.

[Axelmania]

pretty sure that McFarlane wouldn't have been able make their claim stick given that Dr. Who and the BBC used it first back in the mid 60's.

McFarlane wouldn't bother making a claim because Mechanoid Invasion (April 1981) predates McFarlane's toys by a greater degree than Spawn (May 92) predated Nightspawn (Aug 95).

Dr. Who would simply complicate any claim that Palladium might make against McFarlane.

"Mechonoid" (O not A) is the more popular spelling (Dalek actually call them Mechons).

The distinctive spelling is apparent in the individual https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Mechon_179 where he's not named "Mechan".

The complication is there were some instances where an "A instead of O" spelling was used:
toy https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/File:DWM ... id_Toy.jpg
comic https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/File:Wtw.jpg

Mechanoids were also a faction in the 1985 game "Mercenary", and a villain in the 1995 episode "The Old Switcheroo" of the TV series VR troopers, and also used in the 2018 game "RimWorld". These three being unchallenged would also work against Palladium filing suit against McFarlane for using the term.

Given that series 35 robot wars was out in 2008, I'm not sure if the 12-year period without suing might be a problem too, is there a statute of limitations here?