At 06:34 PM 4/7/99 -0400, you wrote:
>At the US Patent and Trademark Office's website
>
> http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/domain/domcl.html
>
>I read that:
>
>** The term "Internet" is still the subject of a proceeding at the
>** Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
>** Therefore, this term should not be used in identifying any
>** goods or services connected with a
>** global computer information network. Language such
>** as "global computer information network"
>** or a substantive equivalent should be used
>** instead of the term "Internet."
Want a not-so-wild guess as to the outcome? It would be that the
term "internet" has gone generic and those marks, insofar as they
rely on the term "internet," are just so much paper. Remember the
escalator and cellophane? And what Xerox (still registered, so far
as I know) battles constantly to avoid?
>A quick search of the USPTO database turns up no fewer than
>1100 trademarks with "Internet" in them, with some of them
>claiming commercial usage back to the mid-80's, and at least
>one of them claiming the Word Mark "Internet".
>
>Does anyone have more information on exactly what the proceeding
>is, and maybe some speculation as to what it'll mean in real life?
The proceeding is that someone appealed and filed a brief, the other
side has X days in which to respond, and unless oral argument was
sought or there are more briefs, the TTAB decides. I'm awaiting a brief
now on an appeal that I filed.
Bill Lovell
>
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