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- Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
- Path: sparky!uunet!mcsun!dxcern!dscomsa!zeus02.desy.de!hallam
- From: hallam@zeus02.desy.de (Phill Hallam-Baker)
- Subject: Re: The VAX Vacuum
- Message-ID: <C0KAzp.BMq@dscomsa.desy.de>
- Sender: usenet@dscomsa.desy.de (usenet)
- Reply-To: Hallam@zeus02.desy.de
- Organization: Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron, Experiment ZEUS bei HERA
- References: <9301040153.AA20250@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
- Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 01:04:36 GMT
- Lines: 40
-
- In article <9301040153.AA20250@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, FZC@CU.NIH.GOV ("Paul
- Robinson, Contractor") writes:
-
- |>The issue of the VAX vacuum vs. VAX computers and the
- |>trademark isn't significant except to the extent Digital
- |>might have wanted to sell their computer in the same
- |>countries as that other company had been selling vacuums.
-
- |>And first to file has problems too. A U.S. soldier during World
- |>War II was kind of bored while on leave in various countries, so
- |>he filed trademark applications in the various countries he
- |>visited for some well-known U.S. products. Those countries had
- |>"first to file" laws, i.e. whoever registers a mark owns the mark
- |>even if they never use it.
-
- First to use has the same problem. A certain brewery decided to name it's
- product after a famous beer in Chezch. It then went on the be one of the biggest
- selling beer substitues in the US, it's called Budwiezer. Only in most of Europe
- it can't be sold under that name (apart from the fact that nobody would want to
- buy it).
-
-
- |>Donald Trump is in a mess of trouble because he named his casino
- |>"The Taj Mahal" after knowing that a guy who owns a restaurant
- |>in Washington, DC, had already registered the identical mark for
- |>his restaurant with the Patent and Trademark office. Now this
- |>restaurant owner is suing Trump over servicemark infringement.
-
- Only since the Taj Mahal is a very common name for Indian Restaurants, Trump
- probably has had no difficulty in showing prior use.
-
- Most countries are sensible enough to have obvious use clauses. For instance DEC
- cannot trademark Alpha, Sinclair could not patent Spectrum. On the other hand
- there are common laws against passing off. If I were to put an IBM Pc in an
- alpha AXP type box and call it an Alpha I could be done for passing off unless I
- made it clear that what I was not what the customer expected by an Alpha.
-
- --
-
- Phill Hallam-Baker
-