home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- INVITATION TO A LAW SUIT???
- ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
-
- The new release of the OSPD3 (tm) now includes the word "xerox" and its
- permutations. Unfortunately, the Xerox Corporation has trademarked the word
- Xerox (tm), and does its best to discourage use of it in lower case and / or
- missing the trademark designation. Whether the NSA (National Scrabble
- Association) is inviting a law suit from Xerox will be an interesting topic
- of discussion, no doubt.
-
- Many decades back, the Bayer Company lost its rights to the word aspirin when
- it became accepted as a generic descriptor. Xerox fears the same may happen
- to the word describing its duplicating technology.
-
- The entire issue of trademarking names is one that should be opened to
- discussion, in my own extremely humble opinion. I personally think it absurd
- that anyone could "own" the rights to a word. Language does not recognize
- property rights, it belongs to everyone. Corporations make profits from
- product names, but how far should the law go in protecting their rights?
- Milton Bradley has trademarked the names Scrabble (tm) and the OSPD (tm). It
- would be classic justice if Milton Bradley were sued by Xerox for trademark
- violation. Imagine Milton Bradley scrabbling for the legal right to put
- xerox in the OSPD (tm), yet threatening to sue anyone xeroxing that selfsame
- OSPD (tm).
-
- Further non-trivial comments on this topic are solicited.
-
- ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
-
- Scrabble and OSPD are trademarks of the Milton Bradley Co., Inc.
- Xerox is a trademark of the Xerox Corp.
-
-
- M\Cooper
- ------------------------------------------------
- E-mail: thegrendel@theriver.com
- Web: http://personal.riverusers.com/~thegrendel/
-