dong0927, on 28 January 2020 - 10:24 AM, said:
If your clan copyrights/trademarks the name, I will respectfully change it. In the meantime, from your source, intellectual property is not inherently protected legally
Again, that’s not the way it works. Intellectual property is protected AT CREATION OR INCEPTION. Filing to register a copyright, trademark, or patent is primarily to let others know that your intellectual property exists, and to make a legal defense of such property much easier. I know because I created a private organization for youth basketball, and was the team owner, AD, and head coach. I had to protect our team name and logo because another organization tried to use it without permission for a cross country team. Showing him the law and threatening a lawsuit was enough to get him to stop.
In order to qualify for a trademark, an entity must engage in commerce (which we do for tournament prizes and fundraisers), and have a clearly identifiable mark (our clan tag [¡¡¡] which is used in game as [III], and the affiliated sub-clans).
per the excerpts found at https://www.hg.org/intell.html
Trademarks protect symbols, names, and slogans used to identify goods and services. The purpose is to avoid confusion, deter misleading advertising, and help consumers distinguish one brand from another. Since the goal is to distinguish, generic or purely descriptive marks may not qualify. Rights can potentially last forever, and they are obtained by simply using a mark. While not required, owners can register their marks for additional protection. (emphasis mine)
Notice of trademarks and copyrights is given by placing the appropriate symbol (™, ©, etc.) on the material, and then registering the mark or copyright, so it can be added to the government's database. (emphasis mine)