On 8/15/06, Bill McGonigle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I feel that incorporating GNHLUG without their
consent would be something of a betrayal. At the same time, obtaining
"their" consent would be an administrative nightmare.
Devil's advocate: At this point they have no inalienable right to the
use of GNHLUG or to call themselves GNHLUG as society recognizes such
things (as encoded in our laws).
GNHLUG is not incorporated. It does not exist as a legal entity.
My understanding is that means legal protections and recognition are
limited to the point of non-existence. However, saying they have *no*
right is pushing things a bit far. A bunch of seem say GNHLUG exists,
and that counts for something (it just may not count for anything much
in court). (I'm mainly quibbling over your usage of the phrase
"inalienable right" here.)
Even staying within the law, lack of incorporation is apparently not
ultimate death. The World Science Fiction Society has been an
"unincorporated literary society" for years and years, yet the
trademarks "Hugo Award" and "Worldcon" apparently do enjoy some form
of legal protection. Unfortunately, I do not know the details of how
that works, and I refuse to speculate in this forum.
If a nail salon in Berlin registers GNHLUG as its name tomorrow with the
Secretary of
State, that's it, game over.
IANAL. Are you? ;-) OTOH, I am sure it would be one hell of a lot
easier if we beat the nail salon to the punch, so I agree it's way
better to get there first.
In the same way, The Weenies would be 'taking' the name from the same
group of people by registering it as property of The Weenies.
This is, I admit, a weaker point in my ethical gyrations. I suspect
I am splitting hairs. OTOH, there is a difference between claiming to
*be* a group, and simply protecting that group.
On the third hand: I have been told by real lawyers that if ones
does not take consistent action to protect a trademark, you loose your
trademark rights, and it becomes "generic". That would imply that to
protect the GNHLUG trademark, we would have to define formal terms for
its use. Ugh. Can of worms again. :-/
-- Ben
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