Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 17:32:32 10/20/99
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On October 20, 1999 at 19:04:08, James B. Shearer wrote: >On October 20, 1999 at 18:20:15, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>On October 20, 1999 at 15:47:39, James B. Shearer wrote: >> >>>On October 20, 1999 at 13:04:37, Robert Hyatt wrote: >>> >>> >>>>as I said, you can't just 'claim' a trademark. There is a definite registration >>>>process, papers to fill out, you have to pick the 'look' (font, surrounding >>>>stuff, etc). You have an attorney file the papers. The trademark office then >>>>researches the trademark to make sure it doesn't infringe on prior trademarks >>>>that have already been awarded, you have to pay a fairly substantial fee to have >>>>it registered if it clears, etc. IE it isn't like the 'implicit copyright' you >>>>have on text you write. It is a totally different ballgame, very similar to >>>>obtaining a patent. >>> >>> This is not exactly correct. In the US at least you can't register a >>>trademark which someone else is using even if the other person hasn't bothered >>>to register it. >>> James B. Shearer >> >>How would they determine this? IE in the trademark I "own" we submitted several >>'copies' of it (different sizes, in color, in black-and-white, etc) and then >>had to pay them to research it at the trademark office. They then publish it, >>allow some sort of time-frame for someone to object, and then award the thing. >>How would someone in a foreign country find out about it and be able to object? > > I meant somebody else is using the trademark in the US. I don't think it >matters if it is being used in say Germany (warning I am not a lawyer and the >source I looked at is 17 years old and kind of vague). If you are using a >trademark in the US and someone starts infringing on it this will likely come to >your attention even if you are living abroad. Also the trademark office >publishes lists of proposed trademarks before it grants them to give people an >opportunity to object. Even after the trademark has been granted it can still >be contested although the longer you wait the harder it gets. > Btw did you actually sell something using your trademark? According to >my source protection should only be granted to marks actually in use. > James B. Shearer yes... we sold a computer software package we developed... In thinking back, I believe for the first year, we used our logo with a (pending) behind it. After the trademark was granted, we took the pending off and just used the logo with (tm) after it... The logo appeared on product briefs, product documentation, our stationary, business cards, etc... Was a real pain to obtain however... and not cheap. :)
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