Question about trademarks in code

[Moritz Muehlenhoff]

James Damour wrote:
> Greetings!  I am a project admin for MegaMek[1], which is hosted on
> SourceForge.  It is a networked implementation of the Classic
> BattleTech(tm) game using Java.  I've been interested in packaging it
> for Debian for years.  Until recently, the Free Runtimes (like gcj and
> kaffe) haven't been able to support the game, but they do now (or will
> sometime this year).  Now I am faced with a dillema: MegaMek has some
> class names that are registered trademarks, so I'm worried about
> including it in the Debian.  I'd *hate* for Debian to receive a Cease &
> Desist order and have to do an emergency removal of the package
> (*especially* from stable).
> 
> I asked on debian-legal, and they recommended against using trademarked
> terms, so I've started work on santizing the code by renaming or
> removing all trademarked terms, but the resulting code can't be used to
> play with anyone using the MegaMek game (downloaded from SourceForge).
> Not to mention that it's a fork of the code, and a lot of work.
> 
> Am I being overly paranoid?  Di I have the correct level of paranoia,
> and should complete my sanitation and then package it?  Should I just
> abandon hope of including my pet project in Debian?  

Normally it's debian-legal that is overly paranoid. Can you give examples
of the potential trademark violations? If it's a real problem it would
need to be fixed in your normal code base anyway, because in that case
SourceForge would receive the C&D letter.

Cheers,
        Moritz