But wasn't there a D&D race called Dragonborn from the 80's edition of the game or something?

Go ahead Zenimax...then I shall trademark the words "dragon" and "born" separately and sue you twice as hard.

I think too many other products have used the word dragonborn in them for this to go through. Sorry ZeniMax but you weren't the first. Fus Ro Dah is understandable but dragonborn...not so much.

So... any game that has people with ouls of dragons cannot use the word dragonborn? That´s just stupid, games are for people to enjoy, who cares about who owns wich word.It´s like I trademark my name so every one with the same name can be sued -.-

Little ridiculous; they just need to chill out and make games. It's not like it's the most original thing ever created or anything.

I guess I'm going to have to name my dog BornDragon now, CURSE YOU ZENIMAX!!!!!

you cant own the word dragon born, if anything dnd gets that man

I'm not sure they'l pull this off. There are many, many "Dragonborns" in the world of fantasy.

But man, that description was hilarious!.

In a related story, ZeniMax has now applied for trademarks on both the words "trade" "mark(including the name)" or any combination of the two.  They strongly feel that they are the single most users of the word, and therefore it is vital to their business that nobody else ever be able trademark anything without their permission first.

I mean, can you blame them? Skyrim exploded.

What I always find particularly shocking in cases like these is how people still don't understand what a trademark is. First of all, it is NOT a copyright, NOT a patent, and NOT complete ownership of a word. Trademarks only apply to those products or services specified by the trademark holder and nothing else. And you know what? Zenimax's trademark on the word "Dragonborn" only covers it for computer and downloadable games, that's it. Planning to write a book called "Dragonborn"? Guess what, this doesn't affect you! Or maybe you were planning on opening that Dragonborn Hair Salon down at the corner of Dragon Boulevard and Born Avenue? Still doesn't affect you! Or who knows, maybe you wanted to start a line of Dragonborn cut-off shorts? That's really weird, but this trademark still doesn't affect you!

To further emphasize this, consider the game "Rage". Zenimax has a trademark on the word "Rage" covering it for games. Big deal, there's 30 other trademarks on the word "Rage" by dozens of other companies for everything from the common pesticide to the not-so-common motor-scooter (nothing says rage like hitting the I-44 in your sweet mo-pad scooter). You see it yet? A trademark does NOT grant a holder universal powers over a word!

You want to play as the Dragonborn race in D&D? No problem, this trademark doesn't affect you! First, because a trademark is for a brand and not just the word, and second, because there's only one trademark on the word Dragonborn right now and that's owned by Zenimax, so there's no trademark infringement going on there.

And before I forget, did you know that trademarks have a "Use it or Lose it" policy? That's right! If you can't prove you've used your trademark (and defended it from infringement), it gets revoked! This happens every few years, so a trademark has to actually be in use for something for the trademark holder to keep it. Which means that if Zenimax is trademarking the word "Dragonborn", it's very likely they plan on using it for something. And since they only filed the trademark for computer and downloadable games, it may very well be that second Skyrim DLC that was promised to Microsoft as a 30-day exclusive.

Point is, the likelihood of this trademark affecting anyone is very slim to none. A trademark, afterall, does not grant the holder ownership of a word, it merely protects a brand for specific products and services only. Anyone can still use it for personal use, or even commercial use (assuming they weren't making a game called "Dragonborn").

I'd highly suggest everyone here do a bit of research on what trademarks are, and also look up the trademarks in question. In fact, here's a link to the United States Patent and Trademark offices, where you can look up any trademark ever filed: http://tess2.uspto.gov/

Just do a search for "Dragonborn" and you'll find the Zenimax trademark is the first result. While you're at it, look up "Rage" and see the huge number of trademarks for that word.

Next they'll trademark the words "arrow" and "knee"

Zenimax is climbing on my s-list of publishers, second to Activision.  It makes me sad that id Software sold out to them.

Here's something funny. Apple has the trademark on, guess what? Apple! So everyone saying that you can't trademark something that has already been used before or is a common word, try again. Also, Deg proves a very good point as well.

There's a browser MMO titled Dragon Born. I think it just recently came out.

As others have said, the idea of trademarking Dragonborn is ridiculous. It's not an original idea. It's like someone making a new game about a sword in a stone and then trying to trademark it. It's been done a million times before. The actual plot of Skyrim was incredibly unoriginal, so trying to trademark plot elements just seems retarded. Gameplay elements on the other hand (like shouts and what-not) is fair game. I generally think a lot of trademarks are dumb, but these at least I can understand.

Just remembered dragon´s dogma is about a character with a soul of a dragon and the body of a man, will they sue capcom for that too? XDXD hope not dragons dogma looks an amazing game and I already bought my copy, I dare say it looks even better than skyrim, thought the gameplay is completely different.

You can't trademark my TIID KLO UL!

filing trademarks like this are stupid. Next it will be the dark elves and goblins that get trademarked...

i think wotc will sue them. because of the dragonborn race in 4e