From: Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 01:15:52 +0800
To: cypherpunks@ssz.com
Subject: Re: Trademarking CypherSpace???
In-Reply-To: <199710062122.WAA03996@notatla.demon.co.uk>
Message-ID: <19971007100557.06259@bywater.songbird.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



On Mon, Oct 06, 1997 at 10:22:21PM +0100, Antonomasia wrote:
> Tim wrote:
> 
> > Seems to me I-Planet can't trademark a word which has been in usage by many
> > of us for several years. What could they do, demand that we stop using a
> > word we in all likelihood coined? Remove our old writings from the Web?
> 
> > I don't know about trademark law, and about whether "prior use" invalidates
> > an attempted trademark.  It seems unrealistic for them to lay claim to a
> > word someone else invented.
> 
> 
> The Kodak disposable camera I have in front of me says
> 
>          "Kodak, Fun and Gold are trade marks."
> and
>            "(c) EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, 1994"
> 
> while I have 361 references to Gold, dated 1611, and it was
> very likely an old word then.  These trademark assertions are daft.

Prior use has nothing to do with trademark protection, unless it is 
prior use in a similar *business*.  It's TRADEmark.

-- 
Kent Crispin				"No reason to get excited",
kent@songbird.com			the thief he kindly spoke...
PGP fingerprint:   B1 8B 72 ED 55 21 5E 44  61 F4 58 0F 72 10 65 55
http://songbird.com/kent/pgp_key.html