Who owns the "multiball" trademark?

[Zombie Aladdin]

Wikipedia says that it's Williams, but the Internet Pinball Database says Data East eventually bought the trademark. As Data East would eventually become Stern, it'd make sense if this was the case, as Stern has been freely using the word "multiball." However, I've noticed Jersey Jack using the word on both The Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit, and the word has been used in various media as if it was nothing.

Does anybody own the trademark, or has it been used so much that it's become genericized?

 

[Shaneus]

The logic is that it's a term which should now have been genericized, but I'm pretty sure there are other terms which aren't. I believe "kickback" at least is Williams, and I'm sure they have stacks more. Terms I think are registered to one company or another (don't ask me by whom):
*Jets/Bumpers/Pop bumpers
*Multiball/tri-ball (see below)
*Kickback
*Vari-target
*Magnasave (definitely Williams, first used in Black Knight)

Wait, I just realised I think it was Data East who frequently used "Tri-Ball" as a non-trademarked term. Multiball I suspect is Williams.


The history of how different innovations came to be and who invented them is interesting, too. I know Steve Ritchie is known for thinking of a few of them, at least "lane change initiated by a flipper" (in Firepower) and flashers (in Flash).

Edit: I knew I'd seen a resource for all this stuff. Look here. Alternatively, just read what I've appended to this post

Multiball —
When several balls are in play at one time. During multiball, there is often some sort of objective, most commonly a jackpot target that scores an obscene amount of points. Multiball is trademarked by Williams Electronics.

M-Ball —
The name Data East used for multiball before they licensed the word multiball from Williams.

Tri-Ball —
One name Data East used for multiball before licensing the use of the word multiball from Williams.

Active bumpers have been given various names. According to the book All About Pinball, Williams called them thumper bumpers on their 1948 game Saratoga but eventually decided to use the shorter term jet bumpers. Gottlieb first used the term percussion bumpers on their 1949 "Bowling Champ" game but eventually changed to the term pop bumpers. Genco called them power bumpers.

Magnasave —
A player-activated magnet above an inlane that will try to catch a ball headed for the outlane. Magnasave has appeared on some Williams games and is a trademark of Williams Electronics.



It sucks that a number of these terms (and possibly mechanics) trademarked, but in pinball's heyday pretty much everyone was ripping everyone else off. Look at Bally's knockoff of Williams' Hyperball (called Rapid Fire), and some of the game features that made their way into Data East games after being featured in Williams titles (none of which I could tell you off the top of my head).

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Multiball was actually used in early ROMs of Lethal Weapon 3 before the trademark issue, it was replaced with Tri-Ball in later ROMs. The last game with the Tri-Ball mention was Jurassic Park, it was then referred to as multiball in every Data East / SEGA / Stern game prior starting with I think Tales From the Crypt. Also pretty sure that M-Ball was only used in Last Action Hero.

Also, Data East changed the names of other items integrated into pinball. I don't think they were changed to due to copyright but here goes:

Kickback = Laser Kick (or Super Laser Kick for unlimited kickback)
Hurry-Up = Runaway (ex. point runaways in Jurassic Park, SW's R2-D2 runaway, crane runaway in LAH, others?)
Frenzy = Fast Scoring (started in Checkpoint, Hook, some others; made a recent comeback in TRON and Rolling Stones)

 

[Fungi]

Jeebus! I always thought it was just as generic a word as "bumper".

 

[Shaneus]

Jeebus! I always thought it was just as generic a word as "bumper".

Well, like I mentioned above, "bumper" isn't generic, either

 

[Fungi]

Well, like I mentioned above, "bumper" isn't generic, either

Jeebus!

 

[kinggo]

patent trolls from the 80's

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

The word "bumper" IS generic, but "jet bumper," "thumper bumper," and "pop bumper" are not. That I know; you can see how what they're referred to falls right in line with the company that made the machine. (To my knowledge, "active bumper" is not trademarked.) Jersey Jack avoided this issue with The Wizard of Oz by referring to its active bumpers as those haunted trees and the area as the "Haunted Forest." Gottlieb attempted to trademark the word "flipper" but couldn't as some other company had claimed it. After that company went defunct, "flipper" became genericized.

Williams was actually quite the patent troll in the '90s and has held on to some of these patents, trademarks, and copyrights for a while now. For instance, do you see those metal plates connecting the floor of the playfield to ramps with one groove cut out to the side? You can see it on tables like Medieval Madness. Williams patented that and owns the patent to this day. (Because people need these parts to properly restore and repair Williams machines, the patent is allowed to remain active.) The metal plate was designed to slant the ball's trajectory away from the center drain and towards a flipper. This is why other companies had to come up with other mechanisms to do that. Stern, for instance, has a tiny metal wire that sticks out, which absorbs the momentum on one side of the ball. (This can be seen in front of the bell on all versons of AC/DC, for instance.)

This patent trolling led me to believe Williams still owned the trademark and that Stern and Jersey Jack had to pay some amount to use the word, which would be worth it, presumably, because "multiball" is something everybody is familiar with and is a major draw for public play. But the entries for "M-Ball" and "Tri-Ball" indicate that Data East eventually took the trademark from Williams. From what I can see, Jack Guarnieri is not on good terms with Gary Stern, and it'd be, as I can't think of a better phrase for it, out of character for him to pay Stern to use something they own. That leads me to believe "multiball" has either become genericized, or its trademark is not enforced.

 

[chucktee]

I was under the impression that Williams owned the term "Multi-Ball" having it on the Firepower backglass with the "tm" trademark. As to later use by Data East and others they most likely co-opted the term and Williams either got royalties or just simply looked the other way-which would be strange considering the conflicts that Williams/Data East had with D.E.'s copying William's hardware systems- remind me to tell you guys what the acronym "TY-FFASI" printed on Data East's flipper control boards stand for sometime

 

[netizen]

Williams was suing DataEast for a range of things, from board design to playfield plagiarism. DataEast responded with this acronym, which means, "take your fu**ing flippers and stick it".

 

[Worf]

A quick search of the PTO reveals that "Multiball" and "Muli-Ball" are both dead trademarks (i.e., no longer belong to the company - either genericized or no longer used in trade).

Remember, trademarks have a "use it or lose it" proviso - there's only a short period of "dead time" from when a trademark is registered to when you must use it, and short period from your last use to when it's lost. Cisco had to dig deep to find it's one sole use of "iPhone" back in 2007 - it was literally within days of being lost.

Multiball, abandoned in 2000, looks like it was for a PC pinball game
Multi-Ball, owned by Williams, cancelled in 2002

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

I see. Thanks for the definitive answer. I suppose unlike its patents, which keep getting renewed because repair people need to turn to Williams for the rights to make and use spare parts, Williams has no need to hold on to its trademarks.

By extension, that must mean "Kickback" and "Kick-back" have become genericized too, huh? Stern and Jersey Jack both freely use the non-hypenated term.

 

[Worf]

I see. Thanks for the definitive answer. I suppose unlike its patents, which keep getting renewed because repair people need to turn to Williams for the rights to make and use spare parts, Williams has no need to hold on to its trademarks.

By extension, that must mean "Kickback" and "Kick-back" have become genericized too, huh? Stern and Jersey Jack both freely use the non-hypenated term.

Patents can't be renewed - they're granted for a 17/20 year and that's it.

Trademarks need to be renewed, but in order to do so, you must prove you're still using the trademark. Since Williams wasn't using it, it's been basically cancelled because if you don't use it, you lose it. (Trademarks have an indefinite term - as long as you still use it, you still have it.). There are two ways to lose a trademark - stop using it, and it'll lapse automatically (most trademarks end up like this). The other way is misuse - stuff like escalator were misused and became generic terms. A trademark holder is responsible for enforcing proper use of their trademark.

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

Oh, really? I always get them confused (as well as copyrights). Doesn't Disney do all sorts of legal hoop-jumping, and even lobbying to change these laws, so they can hold onto their copyrights and trademarks? I know "Mickey Mouse" had come pretty close to genericization a couple of times.

Do you know anything about patents Williams still holds? Certainly, the fact that Stern uses the little wire rod and that other manufacturers come up with other ways to direct the ball away from the center drain (Spinball S.A.P. uses a slanted gate; I'm not sure what others do) indicates Williams still has the patent.

 

[Fungi]

Can someone explain "plunger" to me? I know it's called that. I refer to it as that. But I always feel like it's not he right word for it. To me, plungers are used on toilets and sinks.

 

[vikingerik]

Same concept. Pulling the pinball plunger rod to release a ball is just like pulling the shaft of a toilet plunger to release a clog.

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

The plunger plunges the ball. Pure and simple.

 

[Fungi]

Ack. Of course. I never thought of just looking up the definition of "plunge". Duh-doy.


plunge (plŭnj)
v. plunged, plung·ing, plung·es
v.tr.
1. To thrust or throw forcefully into a substance or place
2. To cast suddenly, violently, or deeply into a given state or situation
v.intr.
1. To fall or throw oneself into a substance or place
2. To throw oneself earnestly or wholeheartedly into an activity or situation
3. To enter or move headlong through something
4. To descend steeply; fall precipitously
5. To move forward and downward violently

 

[Zaphod77]

Yeah, Williams licensed the trademark on Multi-Ball before they went down. They threw in the towel when it was clear that Data East would still be able to put multiball in their games and call it something else. the intent of that trademark was to make it so only they could make pinball games with multiball in it. That didn't work. When Data East came up with "M-BALL" for 6 ball multiball, they realized their plan to put a stranglehold wasn't gonna work, so they decided to license instead to make money that way.

Their most annoying patent was on software compensation, or dynamically changing the rules to make the game playable when parts broke. Again this died when williams got out of pinball. Premiere used a static form with ramps that raise and lower, so you always got credit for what was lit there even if it was in the wrong position. Because the rules didn't actually change, this was not prevented by the patent. This patent meant that if the control room blade switch broke on jurassic park the game couldn't compensate for it in any way, which means chaos super jackpots were impossible to collect ever and there was no way to start modes. They DID manage to keep a stranglehold on this one.

Other fun patents include the one on picking up the ball with a magnet that williams had and refused to license (that Premiere got around by raising the ball up to the magnet in rescue 911), the one on mechanically lifting the ball the Data East got in retaliation and refused to license (used in Jurassic Park), and the combo plunger (which i believe data east had and then licensed out willingly before the whole multiball fiasco).

 

[Zaphod77]

Oh, another one. Data East used FREEZE for a ball save. Williams had autofire.