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Let me start by describing Trademarks. Brinson & Radcliffe (1997) say that a trademarks are "marks and words, names, symbols, or devices used by manufacturers of goods and providers of services to identify their goods and services, and to distinguish their goods and services from goods manufactured and sold by others." For Example, the Trademark `Splinter Cell' is used by the company Ubi Soft to say that this game belongs to the company and so other companies can't use `Splinter Cell' in any title they create. I find this to be a critical issue in the gaming industry for one simple reason, confusion. If any company could use any title for their own game products then people will be confused as to which game they are interested in. The consumers would most likely be annoyed by the fact that there is now five games, for instance, with the same name. Marketing will also be a problem. If companies advertise for their game `Splinter Cell', unless the advertisement states which company the game belongs to, the public will not be aware to what the game is about. Whether they have it confused with the other `Splinter Cell' or whether there is a new `Splinter Cell' that yet another company has come up with. So confusion, I think, posts a major problem with trademark issues. But who owns the trademark? According to Rubin (2002) "a trademark is owned by the first party to use it in connection with goods or services, or the first to apply to register it under the federal intent-to-use procedure if the mark was not previously in use." However, there are steps that can be taken to protect your trademark from being used by others.

"Trademark protection is available for words, names, symbols, or devices that are capable of distinguishing the owner's goods or services from the goods or services of others. A trademark that merely describes a class of goods rather than distinguishing the trademark owner's goods from goods provided by others is not protectible."...