Re: Midgard

From: bcd@pvv.ntnu.no (Bent C Dalager)

Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 16:28:18 +0000

In article <BC60BBF9.FD1F%hugh@bigspider.net>,
Hugh Bayer  <hugh@bigspider.net> wrote:
>
>The above exchange has me wondering what's to stop someone from starting up
>a sport apparel business and calling it Nike?

This would be covered by trademark law. Typically, you cannot
trademark a common word (e.g., "car"), and you cannot trademark a term
which is already in common use within your line of business (e.g.,
"DIY"). (Well, you can trademark them, but it likely won't stand up in
court.)  Further, if your trademark moves on to become a word in
common use (e.g., "Xerox" and "Kleenex"), you might lose your
trademark.

Nike is probably sufficiently obscure that it is trademarkable and
people still haven't started referring to any old footwear as a "nike"
so they should be safe for now.

In a few European countries, it seems like "Windows" is sufficiently
not-really-a-word-in-common-use-after-all that it can also be
protected.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

Cheers
	Bent D
--
Bent Dalager - bcd@pvv.org - http://www.pvv.org/~bcd
                                    powered by emacs

References

Re: Midgard
madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)
Thu, 19 Feb 2004 11:24:11 +0000
Re: Midgard
Hugh Bayer <hugh@bigspider.net>
Tue, 24 Feb 2004 14:29:45 +0000
Re: Midgard
Stephen Weir <sweir@sweir.free-online.co.uk>
Thu, 19 Feb 2004 00:39:54 +0000