If ever there was a gaming company that has had a hard time defending its intellectual property, it is FASA corporation. Every gamer is surely familiar with the high-tech "Battlemechs" ® that this company has made so popular. Behind its rosy public image, however, FASA has been forced to fight battle after battle to fend off the greedy parasites who seek to take away the ideas and storylines that its designers have worked so long to perfect. This stalwart company has held its own so far; but I'm not certain that it, or any other part of the gaming industry, is ready for the legal conflict that is looming close on the horizon.

Some of you may be familiar with the most recent incursion into FASAs territory. In a hardfought 1994 lawsuit in Illinois Federal District Court, FASA lawyers took Playmates Toys, Inc. to task for flagrant unethical practices. Playmates had designed a line of toys -- the "exosquad" -- that were giant, futuristic robot warriors, just like FASAs Mechs ®

Imagine the gall! FASA designers probably spent hundreds of hours of grueling work copying the Mech ® concept from Japanese anime films, and Playmates thought it could just come along for the ride. Perhaps it thought that a "little gaming company" would never have the guts to stand up to a bully. Perhaps it thought no one would notice. Whatever the circumstances, FASA has proven that it will fight all interlopers that tread upon its rights.

Which brings us to the current challenge, probably the greatest that the company will ever face. As you may know, FASA has obtained a trademark on the word "Mech ® ." Their lawyers might have anticipated that someone would try to steal the word -- another gaming company, or perhaps a toy company, or even an international conglomerate. But they probably never imagined the truth, which is much worse.

None other than the U.S. Army has incorporated FASAs word into the names of hundreds of its fighting units. Any unit that combines tanks and mobile infantry is formally labeled a "Mech ® " or "Mechanized" unit. No army official has asked permission to use the word or ever acknowledged the copyright. It seems that they think FASA is too small and too weak to challenge them. We must all pray that they are proven wrong.

I am writing this commentary to lend my greatest encouragement to FASA as it goes to the trenches one more time. The only thing the Army understands is force, and FASAs lawyers must approach with an all-out attack if they want to be taken seriously. I propose that they request a preliminary restraining order that will immobilize every military unit bearing the purloined trademark. I further propose that every piece of equipment that could be used to form a so-called "Mech ® unit" be ordered mothballed until the Army can be called to answer for its unconscionable behavior. This action would include every tank, truck, and armored personnel carrier in the U.S. arsenal -- including manufacturing-in-progress and spares pipeline; its complete documentation, training lesson plans, films, accounting records; and vendor marketing documents, films, and promotional items.

An assault like this is something that our armed forces could not ignore. With the ongoing action in Bosnia, they are relying on their illicit "Mech ® brigades" to intimidate the local militias and provide a fast, deadly response at the first hint of trouble. When they are required to withdraw all ground forces except for leg infantry, they will have to realize that in America no-one can trod upon the underdog with impunity! They will be forced to sit down and negotiate with FASA and ultimately to answer for what they have done.

I think that a solution could be worked out, if FASA is able to pull off the plan I have just described. Perhaps the Army would stop using the term "Mech ® " at all. They could field, instead, "Petroleum-Enhanced-Power Engine" brigades*. Although such a plan would make a lot of sense from the taxpayers' standpoint, I think it is more likely that the Army will want to pay a royalty to FASA -- five or ten percent of its budget, for example -- in order to keep using this chosen name.

Some changes would still have to be made. The military would no longer be able to use the term "Mech" without putting the obligatory "TM" at the end of it. Before the vehicles were released from impound and sent back to Bosnia (or Liberia, Rwanda, or Montana, for that matter), they would have to be repainted so that "TM" appeared on every unit logo and all documentation would have to be re-written and re-printed.

Furthermore, at some visible place on the body of each vehicle, soldiers would have to paint the words "Mech ® is a trademark of FASA corporation, all rights reserved." The court would probably have to appoint special observers to ensure initial and continuing compliance to make sure that the new logos were properly applied and not subsequently removed or blotted out. Ideally, Bosnia would not only have a U.S./United Nations Peacekeeping Force, but also an Illinois Federal District Court Trademark Observation Corps.

Trademark enforcement would be hardest if open hostilities broke out. Suppose a tank was battle-damaged, leaving its unit ID intact but obliterating the "TM?" It would have to be recovered immediately from combat, covered with a tarpaulin, and transported back to the nearest maintenance shop so that the missing symbol could be put back on.

Likewise, wrecks left lying on the battlefield would have to have proper notice of trademark painted on them, if that notice had been damaged in battle. If things got confused enough, the judge might have to issue an emergency order by telephone to force all sides to stop fighting so that trademark violations could be repaired.

It is no picnic to take on the U.S. military, but I think FASA may just be the corporation to do it. They hold the rights of all gamers in their hands. If the military can deprive FASA of its trademarks, what will it give us next? The Palladium" APC? GURPS ® rations? The Dungeons & Dragons ® fighter-bomber? The possibilities are endless, and they will begin -- or end -- here.

*When the Army ultimately changes over to electric car technology, these units could be renamed "Petroleum free, Electric, Non-polluting, Infantry Support" vehicles -- a sort of holistic coming-of-age.