IMPORTANT!!! They want to kill iMtG

[Spikepit]

😳 whadid we win?

[Piotr]

tl;dr: I think we're safe.


I have just sent this email to the lawyers:


Dear [Censored by iMtG],

It's been a month since we last spoke, I hope you had a blast. It's been a busy time for me, as in parallel to my business proposal which you forwarded to Wizards, I decided to make sure that in case they say no, I can continue providing services to my users. I was working to make sure my app is legal, so to say, and the new version is now out in the Apple App Store.

I no longer ship mana nor expansion symbols in iMtG. I no longer host card images on my server to display them in iMtG. I even changed the logo, although I believe the old one was far enough from the pentagon of colours.

What I didn't do is change the app's name. You claim it infringes Wizard's "MTG" trademark, but after the research I did I understand that they do not hold this trademark. I failed to find any products of theirs which use "MTG", I learned that Wizards never registered it, I learned that there are a number of registered trademarks consisting of "MTG" or containing "MTG", at least two by entities not related to Wizards but related to Magic The Gathering game. "MTG" is widely used by Magic players to describe the game and is part of business name of many Magic related entities, and has been for many years. Some of these entities have been officially known to Wizards in a very obvious way, such as MTGSalvation.com for example. Unless you convince me otherwise, at this stage I have no plans to change the name of my app.

I still ship the Oracle content of the cards as this is required for my app's educational function, as well as  commentary and criticism platform it is. People can and do comment on cards on a forum linked with the app. It is also required by the commercial function of iMtG as I sell Wizard's cards through it. I believe this is fair use of the material and not only is not hurting Wizards, but making them profit.

All in all, regardless of what Wizards will respond to my business proposal from last month, I believe I have fulfilled all your original requests apart from changing my apps name. I am ready to discuss it further should you decide to convince me that you are in fact able to prove that iMtG is infringing your trademarks. Otherwise, I believe iMtG in it's current form is not infringing on Wizard's rights anymore.

I would be delighted if you could tell me what is the status of my business proposal from last month, if you have any information on that of course.

Kind regards,
Piotr Farbiszewski


The 'business proposal' sent on Feb 5th is this (part of the email only, excludes the business case):


What I am asking for is the permission to use cards' scanned images, their Oracle literary content, expansions symbols and logos, and the cards related symbols such as mana and tap symbols, in iMtG online Magic: The Gathering cards store. I believe this is no different than what entities such as Star City Games and TCGplayer.com are doing and it is fair use of the copyrighted material which you undisputedly own. I made all the required arrangements which I initially missed and no one can now be confused that iMtG is produced by, endorsed by, supported by, or affiliated with Wizards of the Coast. Please accept my sincere apologies that I may have caused such confusion in the past by not including the relevant disclaimers in the iTunes Store app description, iMtG official web site and in the app itself. This is all fixed now.

If you are not willing to grant me such permission under no circumstances to any of the copyrighted and trademarked intellectual property of yours, I ask that you let me be the same way you let the other friendly entities be, and I promise to continue making money for you. I understand that your core business is the card game and I never had any plans whatsoever to provide game functionality in iMtG. It will remain a reference utility, a card store and trading platform.

[loop-s-pool]

You did it Piotr! 😃👌

[Zen009]

THE NERDS WON! WO HOO!! I love this app! That is all

I'll consider us the winners when we get set and mana symbols back

[Coffee Vampire]

I consider Piotr a winner every time I open this app, build a deck, and use any feature on this app.

[1337m00nm4n]

I consider Piotr a winner every time I open this app, build a deck, and use any feature on this app.

Took the words out of my mouth. Big ups to you Piotr.

[Habardeen]

I'm so happy for iMTG!

Amazing job Piotr and despite the official logos and whatnots it is still BY FAR the best mtg app out there.

Bright future ahead!

[BlakgItarXX]

This is THE best resource. Honestly, I think they should hire you as the app director or something at WOTC because their little toolbox is nothing compared to what we have here. This is a community worth fighting for and with!

[Jbombard51]

Newish member here, I bought it all myself after using this app for 5 minutes. I was introduced to it by a fellow player at an event a few weeks ago and haven't looked back to the toolbags' toolbox.  Kinda bumping here, but as a business man myself I would have offered you a job to better improve my product, and saved money by layoffs and not having to pay lawyer retainers just to preserve my ego. Wishing you and your team all the best, and hopefully the word spreads more about your wonderful app!

[Eryama]

We are the team dude! We help by brainstorming ideas and finding bugs. Piotr is a great dev and he's got all of us behind us. So welcome to the team!!

[BlackJester]

Just to clarify, Piotr is doing all of the work by himself. We populate the forum, but we are merely playing in the playground he built.

[BadLuckIrish]

Three beers from me to you Piotr.

[Piotr]

Thanks! BTW, I did not get any reply at all to that last email.

[smokin terry]

I am really sorry for everything that wizards put you through. You have an amazing app that it seems everyone who uses loves (minus a troll or two). I lost a lot of respect for wizards after reading this entire thread.