how closely can you refer to the originals name without danger of infringement?
silly example:
Let's say a company made a ball back in the fifties called, "The Ball-O-Matic". The Ball-O-Matic was just a simple ball made of wood.
Along comes an entrepreneur who sees an alternate design in the ball that could make it better (for whatever the ball-o-matic's use was for) and adds a groove in the ball. He calls it the Groove-O-Matic. He makes no bones about the fact that it is just a Ball-O-Matic, only with a groove in it.
Has he infringed on the copyright?
silly example:
Let's say a company made a ball back in the fifties called, "The Ball-O-Matic". The Ball-O-Matic was just a simple ball made of wood.
Along comes an entrepreneur who sees an alternate design in the ball that could make it better (for whatever the ball-o-matic's use was for) and adds a groove in the ball. He calls it the Groove-O-Matic. He makes no bones about the fact that it is just a Ball-O-Matic, only with a groove in it.
Has he infringed on the copyright?