"Exciter" is a registered Aphex Trademark

That was no shoe supposed to be yours, nor anyone else’s, who was talking seriously here. So don’t try to put it on, pls.

I doubt Aphex would be doing something about it, unless you would make it a single device and sell it as single device.
At least there is still something like using common sense and relative judgement. (Although there is enough evidence that people exist who don’t posess these former mentioned powers.)

RExciter !

Apple is a great example regarding scope and type of business, as their war was with a certain Apple that belonged to The Beatles. The initial agreement said “we make computers, you make music,” which worked wonderfully until Apple made the itunes store. The Beatles had an Apple Store too, but it didn’t last.

One of the things that makes trademarks different from patents and copyright is that they cease when an owner stops using it within a certain scope. This doesn’t mean there can or can’t be trouble, but if a warning comes, I expect change is easy.

I just know that Apple would have sued :D

This.

If Aphex had sued all the hardware and software effect manufacturers/developers who used word exciter in their products in the last 40 years (and won the cases) there could be a problem. They haven’t so there isn’t. You have to fight for your tradermark or it’ll lose it’s value.

It would be one thing if the exciter was being advertised and sold separately, but when it’s one among a hundred DSP effects that isn’t even advertised anywhere on the Renoise website, there isn’t going to be a lawsuit.

It all depends on the company, of course, but Aphex even let somebody use their own company name for commercial use. I can’t imagine they’d get pissy over a DSP effect with a similar name that comprises a microscopic portion of a commercial program.

^Nail on the head there.

Often the real world use of registered trademarks is more to assert brand credibility and primacy than to defend against infringement and be a tool for litigation. In the case of specialist equipment and software providers like Aphex, the use, in common parlance, of a term like “Exciter” does them more good than harm. Aphex Aural Exciters are famous at this stage and have shaped the sound of a few decade’s worth of records. Their history is well known. So if an aspiring young producer comes across the Exciter DSP in renoise, or any other device called exciter or similar, they will try to find out what it does, and in the process will find out about Aphex’s line of products. Everybody wins!
I don’t think Aphex are likely to litigate against all of the companies that use the term, even though they may have reasonable grounds to argue on, as that may tarnish their reputation amongst the greater producer community, who -anecdotally - often make purchases influenced by moral convictions.
Much better, then, to allow a diaspora of similarly named devices to exist as homage and reference to what may be considered the daddy of the pack.

That said, if Aphex do go on the warpath, can I suggest “Aphex Aural Ass-Kisser” or “Fancy Distortion Device”

Well at least they get their free advertisement in this topic, so i guess they will be fine and dandy with it now.

Hmmm… yes it does look a little like I was paid to say all of that, doesn’t it?