> Actually, in terms of protecting copyright, the > phrase you used is incorrect. Copyrights have to > be used as adjectives, as in, "The Transcendental > Meditation technique," or "The TM technique," or > "The TM program." Using them incorrectly, as nouns, > is one of the reasons why a copyright can be lost > and fall back into the public domain. > > The other essential legal step in protecting a > copyright is the *agressive* prosecution of anyone > infringing on that copyright. If the courts find > that the copyright holder has been lax about this, > that is another reason that the copyright can be > lost.
Just as an aside, anyone who reads writers' magazines will be familiar with the full-page ads from the Caterpillar Corporation that show up in those magazines. They are instructional in nature, trying to train fiction and non- fiction writers to always say "a Caterpillar tractor" or "a Caterpillar bulldozer" rather than "a Caterpillar" or "a Cat." This is because the latter usage was becoming so prevalent that their trademark began to be considered in jeapardy. It's a fascinating subject. And I was impre- cise in earlier posts; what we are discussing here is trademarks, not copyrights. Aspirin used to be a trademark of the Bayer corporation, but was lost. Same thing happened to former trademarks cellophane, linoleum, escalator, yo-yo, cornflakes, and milk of magnesia. Even 'heroin' was once a copyrighted trademark of the drug company that first sold it. To quote a website on the subject: Trademark, any symbol, such as a word, number, picture, or design, used by manufacturers or merchants to identify their own goods and distinguish them from goods made or sold by others. Thus, a trademark identifies the source of a product and fixes responsibility for its quality. If customers like the goods, the trademark enables them to know what to purchase in the future; if they dislike the product, they will avoid goods with that trademark. The name of a type of product cannot be a trademark, because every maker of that product is free to use its name. Sony, for example, is a well-known trademark for televisions, radios, and audio equipment, but no one can have trademark rights to the word television or radio. On several occasions, however, words intended by manufacturers to be used as trademarks for new products were instead used by customers to name the products; such words then lost their legal status as trademarks. . . . Under the common law in each state, a seller who uses any symbol as a trademark acquires the legal right to prevent other sellers from using a similar mark. . . . Trademarks are federally registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of the Department of Commerce. When a seller applies for registration, the office will examine the application to see if the mark meets the conditions of federal law. The most important condition is that the trademark is not confusingly similar to one previously registered or used in the U.S. On approval of the application, the trademark is published in the official gazette to enable any objections to be heard in an opposition proceeding. If a registration is granted, it lasts for 20 years and may be renewed at 20-year intervals for as long as the trademark is still in use. Once a federal registration has been obtained, the owner may give notice by using the symbol R next to the trademark. Any seller who uses a mark so similar to a registered trademark that it is likely to cause customer confusion is an infringer and can be sued in a state or federal court. The court compares the conflicting trademarks as to similarity in sound, sight, and meaning. It is not necessary that the parties sell directly competing goods for likelihood of confusion to occur; for example, use of the trademark Yale on flashlights was held to be an infringement of the same trademark on locks. Unlike patent or copyright infringement, trademark infringement is defined solely by the likely confusion of customers. The usual remedy after a court trial finding trademark infringement is an injunction prohibiting the infringer from using its mark. A trademark is often a valuable property of a seller or manufacturer, because it is the symbol of the company's goodwill and of its products and services. Thus, a trademark can be sold or assigned when a company and its assets are sold. It can also be licensed to others to use as long as the owner exercises control over the quality of goods or services supplied by the licensee; most fast-food outlets, such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, or other franchised businesses are licensed to use the trademark of the parent company (see Franchise). http://ase.tufts.edu/ten/property/patents.asp To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
