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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