I’m not sure what the big deal about claiming trademark protection is. Blender’s logo is trademarked too. Should someone be able to write their own piece of software, slap the Blender logo on it, and start calling it Blender?
jedfrechette,
Unfortunately, like most things in life, the vast majority of trademarked/copyrighted works would never be pirated regardless of the presence of legal protection. The only reason it exists is to aviod that one and one thousand situation where your property is actually being pirated.
So basically, copyright/trademarking is legal insurance to keep you from getting struck by lightning.
Anyway, since “Blender” is apparently trademarked, can you plagarize/pirate it by including it in a screenshot that you posted on a public forum and without meaning to, and by legal standards, fail to give proper credit to the owner and/or posses written permission? Absolutely! Is it illegal? Absolutely! Is Blender going file a law suit against you? Absolutely not (for obvious reasons)!
Now can someone like Autodesk or Adobe do this? Probably not… That is where the reasoning for copyright protection comes in.
Now, if you were going to use the Blender name and logo for your own (commercial) software, first of all it would be a horrible business decision, and second of all, Blender’s concern towards you will vary with your success with public opinion. They will likely though laugh it off…
Finally getting back to the point of this forum, to be perfectly honest I do think it’s kind of silly to have legal possesion of a color, but there is sense in it.
I guess the response to your prompt, 3pointedit, should focus on what types of companies own these copyrights, why they own the copyrights (to protect against who), and ultimately whether or not they would be likely to attack an accidental infringement.
But personally, I don’t think Blender should act upon this threat unless there is a “defensive” attack on a user.
Don’t play the first move of a dangerous game if you don’t have to. If the copyright holders want to, by all means move - but not until then.
On the other hand though, if Bojo’s Graphics happens to have copyrights on half the colors on the spectrum…