The Federation/Patent Office

As an initiative to expand economic opportunities within the Federation, the Federation assigns the Civil Court the responsibility to run the Patent Office. Its main aim is a major economic-focused effort that will make the Civil Court a main source of information. By setting up a public and secure database of patents, we ensure that there will be no conflict in between players setting up franchises and/or brands, and a place for the Circuit Justices to refer to in terms of patent litigation. In another words, the patents allow the owner of the patents the ease of mind in having their own patents be used for their own purposes.

The Patent Office will be tasked in operating 2 databases. They are the following:

• Current Franchise Patents

  Company names (such as “In’n’Out”) and their associated colors
  Company mottos that are in current or previous use
  Company images, if any
  Building layouts and designs

• Technology Patents

  Does not apply to technology developed off-server (i.e. flat launchers, stations etc that is listed on youtube).
  Vehicle Designs
  Station Technology
  Routing Technology
  Redstone Technology

The office will list patents submitted by business owners in a Google Document. If a conflict arises, we look to the earliest use of the patent, which may include going into the old world to discover the first usage. However, the burden of the proof is at the submitter of the patent-- the applicant and/or objector must prove to us their use is earlier than the current patent holder.

You may notice there are no patents for any concepts or unrealized/unbuilt/unannounced brands/technology. The patent office will only accept patents that is being used currently or previously. (Basically, you can’t patent, for example, “The New World!” and not use the motto anywhere. You must exhibit that you are actively using it in a public setting before sending in an patent application.

The patent office also recognizes that there are a long history of brands and mottos used in the Old World that may be held by an inactive player. This is why there will be three levels of patents-- the A, N, and O levels. If your brand is entirely new and there has been no previous instance of the brand being used in the Old World, OR you own the brand on the old world and the new world, your brand will be assigned an “A-level” patent, which permits you to use the brand anywhere on both the New and Old worlds.

If your brand also has been used by an inactive (3 months or more) player solely on the old world, you are then granted an N-level patent, which only permits you to use your brand on the new world. The old brand holder will then be assigned an O-level patent to be only used on the Old World. However, if the old brand holder comes back on and files an objection to the brand assignment, we will determine the case in a court case to ensure a fair and unbiased agreement can be reached, using brand usage in each world, the visibility of brand in each world, the presence of an wiki page (or even an reference towards), and other factors. In no cases can an N-level Patent-holder ever claim an O-level patent for his own uses in the Old World.

Brands held by banned players are not released back into the public domain and is considered dormant/buried and is unavailable for any further expansion unless there is a clear chain of ownership. If the player made arrangements to obtain a franchise from a banned player, the player has the burden of proof to prove that the banned player agreed to the transaction.

Any patent with the use of “MRT” in it will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to be listed in the database due to potential brand conflicts with the brand of the general server, and is strongly discouraged in general. The brand will have to be able to identify itself to be clear that MRT is not used in an official sense. In most cases, old-world uses of MRT in its brand will be labelled as an O level patent due to the lack of patent standardization in the past.

Patent Application

To submit your patent application, please go to Patent Application Form Be noted that at this time, all applications will not be processed until The Federation officially opens at June 20.

You will need to submit applications for each patent/brand you want to trademark; no bundle applications are allowed. This will allow us to easily process applications without rejecting the entire bundle if there is one that has an conflict with an existing patent.

Patent Database

To review patent ownership, please go to LINK NOT READY UNTIL JUNE 20 to access the Public Patent Database.