Any Woodsballers from N.Cal? Check our field out!

**wanna-b-ballin'** · 07-22-2005, 06:22 PM

wow, i'm confused. us norcalers have two places called bay area paintball.

i'v never heard of your field until now, looks nice though. and the prices look good. too bad i live so far away from there though.

**FreakBaller12** · 07-22-2005, 06:31 PM

Yes they offer classics for fields with a rental valve on them. Call up AGD and ask them about it, I think they are still have that offer.

**Mr. BoBo** · 07-22-2005, 06:45 PM

Yeah - you might want to change that name.

It looks like a good setup but this picture makes me worried -

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http://bayareapaintball.com/pictures/battles/04022005/high/P1010134.JPG

Seems the guy is on the field, goggles up with no barrel plug ~ how's your insurance?

Edit: holy massive picture, batman

**halfHP** · 07-22-2005, 07:13 PM

Actually the bay area paintball in burlingame infringed on OUR name. We are in the process of making them change their name - theres actually a thread about it in our forums where some of their guys posted.

We've been around since the 90's.

**Mr. BoBo** · 07-22-2005, 07:57 PM

Intresting thread. If I bump into Will, the owner, tomorrow I'll ask what's up. He's a decent guy but I obviously can't comment on this situation.

BTW - you mention trademark a ferw times but I can't seem to find a trademark under the uspto. Just curious

**Conversekidz** · 07-22-2005, 08:17 PM

intresting you have been around since the 90's and i have yet to hear of this field and I have been playing in the bay area since I was 10 years old (i'm 23 now)

**halfHP** · 07-24-2005, 10:05 AM

A trademark belongs to the first person to use it commercially. You dont need to register it. All registering a trademark does is allow you to more easily force somebody to stop using your trademark without taking them to court. Theres also multiple places that register trademarks, individual states etc.

As far as never hearing about us goes, we have always been private. It's been pretty easy to get games of over 30 people together on any given weekend without advertising. (A couple times over 80 showed up.) We only hold games on certain dates to make sure that our days arent a bust with too few people. Recently, we started offering the field out for private rental and are in the process of trying to replace all of our loaner guns to improve the quality of our field. In the long run the goal is to charge a more lucrative price to companies and corporations that would like to rent our field out for team building events, but still keep as low a price as possible for regular open to the public games on the weekends. The public games have always been non-profit. Just a way to have fun and gain publicity. Actually, with the slight increase in price to $15 for self - equipped players, we are hoping the extra $5 allows us to maintain and replace more of the loaner guns that we have which are getting pretty old.

You could almost say its less of a commercial field as it is a club that has a field. Kinda like the elk's lodge or something, except with paintball.

EDIT: You sure 'will' is the owner? I thought that was the guy that manages the building. I could be wrong though.

**Mr. BoBo** · 07-24-2005, 10:43 AM

Originally posted by halfHP

A trademark belongs to the first person to use it commercially. You dont need to register it.

A trademark belongs to the first person to record it with the US Patent and Trademark Office - www.uspto.gov. Otherwise you are establishing rights and your position is somewhat weakened. As you mentioned though, you have a lawyer and I'm sure any good IP lawyer already told you all this.

Theres also multiple places that register trademarks, individual states etc.

Interesting - my understanding was that USPTO was the federal agency responsible for trademarks. You can register a business name or DBA with state and county levels but not a trademark.

As far as never hearing about us goes, we have always been private . . .You could almost say its less of a commercial field as it is a club that has a field. Kinda like the elk's lodge or something, except with paintball.

As long as you are properly permitted by the county, have all the insurance requirements and keep proper records of income, taxes paid etc, then enforcing the prior anem usage whould be no problem. Whether you believe it's a private game or not, charging people for a service qualifies as a business.

EDIT: You sure 'will' is the owner? I thought that was the guy that manages the building. I could be wrong though.

I'm 100% sure - We were the first people to play the field the first saturday it opened. We had a long conversation with him that day and I've had a few with him since then. I'd be careful throwing the crack dealer remark around, at least until you've met him.

Couple of other quick things gleaned from your website:

FPS is under 310 - you know goggles are rated to 300fps, right?
Alchohol is permitted - drinking plus compress air weapons = bad idea. Your insurance company has no issues with this?

Anyhoo - I just wanted to address the trademark thing as it's something I've had to deal with recently.

**halfHP** · 07-24-2005, 02:55 PM

EDIT:
----------
Here is a link to a very informative document on the uspto site youve been citing:

404 error - page not found

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/doc/basic/register.htm

404 error page

Also, like I said, there are multiple trademakr registrars. USPTO is FEDERAL. It's actually better to register with your state (per our legal advisor). Here's where you do it: http://www.ss.ca.gov/business/ts/ts.htm
----------

Our setup might seem a little foreign but it works and everyone has fun.

The fps rating is 310 because it is afterall, woodsball. Nearly all shots land at a range >75 feet. The google rating should only come into effect if someone holds a gun a few inches away from the mask and starts blasting it point blank. As far as pain, even at 310 fps a paintball will only leave a nasty welt.

Also, as of yet we have never actively collected money for a public game. We have a contribution box. Not everybody contributes unfortunately but we usually get enough to cover costs. Our crowd is very cool! And yes, I do have sufficient records to make my claims to the name legitimate in a court of law.

Because the field is not a general admission field we are able to do a little more than a field that has its doors open to anyone and everyone. I talk to everyone that comes up personally before they can go to the field.

As far as the Burlingame paintball people goes, I didnt call the owner a crack dealer. I did however repeat a rumor - which is never a good thing to do. My apologies there. I did cite my source however - a public review on sacpaintball. But did you even read the response from the Burlingame guys? Tell me that whole money-tree thing doesnt sound a little crazy. They sure dont seem to be very interested in debunking any rumors.

I plan to go to their field and talk to them face to face when I have the time. Most of their staff comes off as extremely ignorant in their posts so hopefully 'Will' or 'Tabatha' (If they arent the same person.) will be there.

Anyway, I just wanted to extend an invitation. We do have a lawyer though so dont need legal advice. Thanks for the thought though! You are welcome to join us if you are interested. I didnt really want to get into any big discussion about the Burlingame people. Whether you are friends with the owner or not, taking someone elses name, no matter who it is, is a crappy thing to do. They knew we were around before they chose a name. They just didnt care. Now people associate Bay Area Paintball with an overpriced indoor field. Put yourself in our shoes...

Any Woodsballers from N.Cal? Check our field out!

Any Woodsballers from N.Cal? Check our field out!

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