Hi all: Just to add my two cents. My husband and I often STAY at the Library Hotel, which is a delightful small hotel in mid-town (across the street from the NY Public Library). I, of course, being a librarian, was thrilled to be there, but noticed that the "Dewey Decimal numbers" do not literally mimic the real ones -- the numbers are based on the floor numbers, and then they have tried to put books about a related subject into each room. It never occurred to me that it was either a trademark infringement or copyright infringement. And I really don't think that the guests in the hotel are going to note the "dewey number" on their room, and run to the nearby library to look up a book under that number. The guests will delight in the fact that books are in each room, that the love of books and reading is being encouraged (rather than the slick, cold, technologically-oriented hotel rooms of the big chains), and that a lovely hotel came up with a clever and, frankly, cozy concept. Certainly the hotel should have "cleared it" with OCLC, and should have responded to their lawyers when questioned, but as my husband, a lawyer for a large corporation (which has sometimes been involved in trademark issues) stated: "The question from a legal standpoint is whether the use by the Library Hotel causes confusion as to the source of the product or dilutes the value of the trademark as serving as a distinctive device. There is probably something to argue about, but I don't see it as a very strong case." Honestly, I believe that the entire thing is blown out of proportion, and even though we use the Dewey system in our synagogue library, I do hope that the court throws out the case and/or OCLC backs down and they come to some agreement.
Cheryl Banks - ========================================================================== HaSafran - The Electronic Forum of the Association of Jewish Libraries Submissions for HaSafran, send to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org/
