Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 07:54:31 12/04/97
Go up one level in this thread
On December 04, 1997 at 06:47:12, Amir Ban wrote:
>On December 03, 1997 at 14:01:45, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On December 03, 1997 at 08:52:13, Amir Ban wrote:
>>
>>>On December 03, 1997 at 08:40:20, Chris Carson wrote:
>>>
>>>>Well I thought I would see if anyone is interested in
>>>>discussing this topic.
>>>>
>>>>1. When is this?
>>>>2. Opinions on who will show
>>>> Deep Blue? Deep Blue JR ?
>>>
>>>Anyone who is planning to show up with a Jr or Junior suffix, prefix, or
>>>whatever, can expect to draw a lot of heat from certain parties. IBM
>>>have been duly informed of this.
>>>
>>>Amir
>>
>>I'm not sure what this means, but "junior" is non-trademarkable and
>>non-copyrightable. It has already been used far too many times on
>>different
>>products.
>
>[snip]
>
>My IP attorney thinks differently.
>
>You may have a wrong idea of what the law on marks and trademarks says.
>It's generally ok to use the same name in different fields when no
>confusion can occur, and you are not trying to use someone else's
>reputation. This happens all the time. Just try to think how many things
>in different fields you know which are called "zip". Also, if you
>thought "Windows" was an operating system, go into the glassware section
>of a department store and see that it is a popular label there.
>
>As for the name being generic, did you notice that there is a company
>called Microsoft that for every one of its products tries to think of
>the most generic name possible to describe it ("Windows", "Word",
>"Office", "Money", "Works", "Schedule", "Access", etc.) ? Just try using
>these words for a product with the same purpose and see what letter you
>get from Bill's lawyers.
>
>Of course it's copyrightable, that has nothing to do with the name.
>
>Amir
With but one counter-example, I will "rest my case".
Can you spell "word perfect"???
Oh yes...
Can you spell "X windows"?
*neither* has been sued, because the "generic" words can be used as a
part
of a name and can *not* be copyrighted. You are on the wrong track. If
you call your program junior, and sell it, and I later call my program
junior, you might have a chance, *if* you have trademarked it. But this
requires a series of actions on your part, *not* just writing a program
and naming it. I formed a company here several years ago and went
through
the trademark process to trademark our name and logo. It took time and
a good bit of *money* to do so.
But back to this scenario... you might have a case on the name
"junior",
but you have no prayer on fighting "deep blue junior" because they are
(1) a tad better known than your program; (2) they are not using your
program's name, they are using the adjective "junior" to indicate that
this is a weaker version of their program. IBM could certainly point to
their "PC junior" product of 10 years ago or so to show they have done
this
in the past, just as they could point out "Cray Blitz Junior" or any
other
number of them.
You *can not* claim a word in the English Language and prevent someone
else
from using it, which is why we have trademark laws. You can claim
"junior"
by itself, but you can't prevent anyone else from using it. IE imagine
the
chaos of my writing a program and calling it chess, because you could
then
not say "Junior chess program" on the box. That'd be stupid...
Have fun trying to bug them about it, but I'd make a small wager that
IBM
has enough lawyers, make that enough *good* lawyers, than you end up
roasted on their dinner table. I wouldn't try to start that fight...
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.