ntt@dciem.UUCP (Mark Brader) (06/15/84)
One of the best-known commercially produced games is called Scrabble, right? Well, no, it isn't. If you look at a set, or at least, if you look at one that is being sold nowadays, you will see that the name of the game is "Scrabble brand crossword game". Scrabble is a trademark of Selchow & Righter (or it was the last time I looked, anyway); the rest of the name isn't. S&R may have had one or both of two reasons in mind to switch the name: [1] to market other products under the same TM (e.g. "Scrabble scoring anagrams"), and [2] making the TM an adjective, as noted elsewhere, seems to improve its chances in court (a distinction I think silly*). But the curious point is this: the public at large seems to think that "Scrabble" is a TM noun which identifies the "crossword game", whereas in fact it is a TM adjective which identifies a marketing line of games of which the "crossword game" is only one. Now this means that the public perception of the TM differs from what the manufacturer is trying to protect -- and when an adjective TM becomes used commonly as a noun, it's usually dead** -- but this is in the opposite direction from usual. So I wonder what effect this would have in any hypothetical court case! *Though it does seem true that noun TMs are more LIKELY to enter the language. **I think "Band-Aid" will be the next to fall, perhaps followed by "Walkman". Mark Brader