CRAY - permission?

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Wilko
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CRAY - permission?

Post by Wilko »

I realise that the Cray Inc. was first mentioned in the Jurassic Park novels - a medium where, typically, this type of corporate name-dropping seems to slide with ease.

But in Trespasser (and, notably, NOT in the films, AFAIK), Cray is mentioned multiple times, especially during 'The Lab' where the name is spoken AND the official logo is seen, not to mention that the supercomputer within the InGen lab itself obviously resembles the Cray line of supercomputers, with the distinctive bench seating.

Were Cray Inc. approached for any of these trademark uses, in the book or indeed in the Trespasser game? Cray is still a major player in the supercomputer industry, and to see their logo and name dropped in a piece of fiction from the 1990s is almost like using the trademarks of Apple, Dell or Intel.

And regardless of whether they were approached or not, does this even matter? I'm currently involved in the supercomputing business (not with Cray), but I was still stunned to see their official logo, name and distinctive hardware appear in Trespasser - it got me thinking about whether this kind of appropriation is actually a concern for companies like Cray. Before, during and after the fact.

And another thing! Why did the Trespasser devs even decide to use the Cray name? They were only mentioned in the novels (again, AFAIK), they could have made up any kind of ridiculous name of hardware manufacturer for an already fictitious genetics company. What if there was a massive scandal at Cray weeks after release, or what if Cray decided to pursue the devs for wrongful trademark usage?

PS. I only just rediscovered my login for this forum, after twelve long years in the wilderness, which is a minor thrill.
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Re: CRAY - permission?

Post by Draconisaurus »

I read somewhere in an old official Tres document that various companies were approached regarding trademark usage, its result being unknown at the time of writing. I imagine this was one of them - probably taken care of early on since it's in the voiceovers.
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Re: CRAY - permission?

Post by TheIdiot »

Draconisaurus wrote:I read somewhere in an old official Tres document that various companies were approached regarding trademark usage, its result being unknown at the time of writing. I imagine this was one of them - probably taken care of early on since it's in the voiceovers.
This would make sense to me. Other real-world companies in Retail, off the top of my head, include:

Cray Computers (duh)
Millipore Plastic Products (on a crate)
Mercedes-Benz (Unimog)
Portland Construction (on a crate)
Atlantic Transportation Services (shipping container)
Starline (shipping container)

A company known as Precision Instruments is also included, but considering the real-world logo isn't shown, it's possible it just means generic, unbranded precision instruments. Hamatchi-Hood was also the company said to manufacture the gene sequencers that InGen used, but I don't think it's branded in Trespasser. Additionally, the guns are supposedly all licensed from their actual manufacturers, though the fact that they are named differently in TresEd seems to tell me that most of them were never actually licensed.
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