fallenoak
commented
7 years ago Thanks for reaching out!
As far as I know, Blizzard does not have a trademark on the word wow -- they do maintain trademarks on World of Warcraft and just plain Warcraft (among other things), but this project is named Wowser, not Warcraftser. See Blizzard's trademark page for a full accounting of game-related trademarks Blizzard maintains.
Additionally, the presence of a word in a product does not immediately establish the word as a trademark. For instance, the word quest appears dozens of times in the game's UI, but quest is not a trademark related to Blizzard or World of Warcraft.
Finally, wowser exists as a plain English word. To quote trusty old Merriam-Webster:
Wowser is a delightful word with an interesting background, though its ultimate origin is unknown. The word first appeared in print in 1899, in the Australian journal Truth, and was instantly popular in Australia. It spread to New Zealand, where it remains in use, and then eventually arrived in England, possibly brought by the Australian troops who served there during World War I. The American writer and editor H. L. Mencken liked "wowser" and attempted to introduce it in the United States. He used the word frequently in American Mercury, the literary magazine he edited. Despite Mencken's efforts the term never truly caught on in American English, though it is used occasionally.
Since we don't currently plan to change the name of the project, I'm closing this issue.
First (IIRC): When I played WoW 0.5.3 alpha, I saw something like "wowser" when using some button. Second: "WoW" is a trademark, of course.