Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 23:53:32 +0200 From: "Simon L. Nielsen" <simon@FreeBSD.org> To: "Gary W. Swearingen" <underway@comcast.net> Cc: Marc Fonvieille <blackend@FreeBSD.org> Subject: Re: Another "annoying" trademark :) Message-ID: <20030826215331.GA2363@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <507k50nx1v.k50@mail.comcast.net> References: <20030826075148.GA806@nosferatu.blackend.org> <20030826122255.GA403@FreeBSD.org> <507k50nx1v.k50@mail.comcast.net>
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--2oS5YaxWCcQjTEyO Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On 2003.08.26 10:33:32 -0700, Gary W. Swearingen wrote: > "Simon L. Nielsen" <simon@FreeBSD.org> writes: >=20 > > On 2003.08.26 09:51:48 +0200, Marc Fonvieille wrote: > ... > >> Maybe we can wait for the registration to be effective... > > > > That could take a very long time, so when somebody from XFree86 respond, > > I plan to handle it along with all the other unregistered trademarks. > ... >=20 > I'm curious why unregistered and registered trademarks should be > handled differently. IMO, they should be be handled the same, with > some default treatment (eg, use "(TM)" or not) and some special > treatment for owners who are known to desire it (not necessarily the > treatment they desire), regardless of registration. Yes exactly. In most situations there are no difference with regards to registered and unregistered trademarks. I guess that I should have been more clear. The reason that I wrote that it should be handled the same as other unregistered trademarks, was exactly that it should be used with proper trademark symbol and trademark attributution, even when it's not registed. > It seems safest to assume that any (?) claims of trademark are valid > claims and that you are dealing with a proprietary trademark which > gives someone rights in the use of the trademark. Yes I have also been working under that asumption, and then checking with the USPTO trademark database sometimes. > I'm fairly sure > that the owner can sue you (and even win) with or without > registration, with the main difference being whether it's going to > cost you a lot or a whole lot. As I understand it when a trademark is registered the main differnce is that any claim that others are violating the trademark is simpler, since you don't have to prove that you have a right to the trademark, since that has already been done to the trademark office (USPTO in the United States). > There should be one difference in handling, according to the USPTO web > site's intro material: It says that the circle-R symbol may not be > used except with registered trademarks. =20 >=20 > (I'm not so sure about that. I've never seen any law against it or > even against a false claim of copyright or non-registered trademark > ownership.) Yes, you are only allowed to use (r) if the trademark is really registed, though I'm not really sure who whould come after you if you did misuse it. > The statute also has a footnote saying that there are other ways to > mark a trademark (other than the circle-R and "Registered in > U.S. Patent and Trademark Office" and "Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.") to > give notice that it is registered, but it refers to some old law that > I couldn't find. OK, I actually havent seen anything about that. All the trademark policies from trademark holderes I have seen just say to use the apropriate (r)/(tm). > AFAIK, "(TM)" and the small raised "TM" only imply a trademark claim, > not registration. Anyone know of (semi?) official documents on the > matter? Yes (tm) means that the company in question claim a trademark, and they either haven't registed it, or is in the process of registering it. A odd case is Sun which asks that (tm) be used all the their trademarks, also their registered trademarks. Disclaimer: I am not lawyer, what I know about trademarks I have gathered from various websites, so I might be wrong. Note: When I write (tm) or (r) I do mean the trademark symbols generated by ® and ™, it's just a bit hard to write in plain text). --=20 Simon L. Nielsen FreeBSD Documentation Team --2oS5YaxWCcQjTEyO Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQE/S9bbh9pcDSc1mlERAkZXAJwJSRZgbgXKZ7niPRvCNrpLG4anOACfVcGO 2PrGRGKEN195f3tmN9X/XaY= =OE2W -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --2oS5YaxWCcQjTEyO--
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