Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihldt.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!ihnp4!ihldt!jhh From: jhh@ihldt.UUCP (John Haller) Newsgroups: net.followup,net.legal Subject: Re: Copyrighted Material / (TM) Message-ID: <2279@ihldt.UUCP> Date: Mon, 19-Mar-84 16:45:21 EST Article-I.D.: ihldt.2279 Posted: Mon Mar 19 16:45:21 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 20-Mar-84 02:01:53 EST References: <200@hou2g.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 31 > I think that the registered trademark indication, (TM), is > overused on the net. It is especially prevalent in net.micro > where one might see - " ... the Pacman (TM) Atari Game > Cartridge (TM) ..." First of all, (TM) is only an indication of trademark, it is not an indication of a registered trademark. To indicate a registered trademark, an R in a circle, or a footnote stating that the term is a registered trademark of foobar. > Manufacturers are happy to have their registered names used by > the public, in fact that's their goal. What they don't want is > their registered trademarks associated with other manufacturers > products. If I ask for help with an "Apple //" I am using the > trademark as it was intended and (TM) is not required. But if > Franklin uses it in an Ace advertisement, they better use the (TM) > to avoid associating the name "Apple //" with their product. Wrong again. Kimberly-Clark sends out many letters to journalists who use the word Kleenex* as a noun, and without mentioning the trademark. If a company fails to do this, it may lose its trademark, as has happened several times in the past. Mimeograph used to be a trademark of A. B. Dick, but they failed to protect their trademark, and lost it. This most recently happened to Parket Bros. with Monopoly. Practically, there is little that a company can do if someone continues to misuse a trademark, especially on something like netnews. I would be interested to hear what a company can do. John Haller --- Kleenex is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark