I'm well aware of your apology letter. However, I agree with the sentiments expressed by Mike Masnick on Tech Dirt.
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Update: As pointed out in the comments -- and in a friendly email from Lone Wolf's lawyers -- Lone Wolf has backed down a bit and sorta, but not really, apologized. The guy claims that he's not a lawyer (though, whoever emailed us said they were a lawyer representing the company), and didn't quite realize what he was doing (and it showed). They still claim they want to block "potentially confusing and infringing uses" but our commenters raised some serious questions about the descriptive nature of the mark, and whether or not it should have been allowed in the first place. Still, let this be a lesson to folks, yet again, that acting as a bully tends to backfire.
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The onus is not on Privateer Press to retrospectively and prospectively monitor their forums for alleged improper use of the mark "Army Builder," nor are they legally responsible for "educating" their forum users that they may be infringing. The fact of the matter is that the programs (Forward Kommander and a number of others) are not sponsored nor endorsed by Privateer Press, nor are they pecuniarly invested. The fans of PP who made these programs, on their own volition, decided to share their program on the forum. Mandating that Privateer Press take direct responsibility for the actions of their forum users, lest they face future injunctions and legal action, is absurd. I highly doubt that any federal jurisdiction in the U.S. would establish the precedent that forum hosts are legally responsible for the alleged trademark infringements that occur on their forums. Do you realize how onerous this is?
Further, I take issue with the fact that you justified your apology on the basis of legal necessity and poor word choice (i.e. the use of improper v. infringement). The law is not entirely in your favor, as I've outlined on DakkaDakka.
For a full response to Russ' post(s), please see the thread.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum...3.page#1343931