ji@cs.columbia.edu (John Ioannidis) (04/15/91)
I have a strange question: Suppose I name a machine "foo.cs.columbia.edu", where "foo" is a trademark or a registered trademark, e.g., the name of a video game, a brand of consumer electronics, the make of an exotic car, or the name of a computer manufacturer. Have I violated trademark law? /ji In-Real-Life: John "Heldenprogrammer" Ioannidis E-Mail-To: ji@cs.columbia.edu V-Mail-To: +1 212 854 8120 P-Mail-To: 450 Computer Science \n Columbia University \n New York, NY 10027
ho@hoss.unl.edu (Tiny Bubbles...) (04/15/91)
ji@cs.columbia.edu (John Ioannidis) writes: >Suppose I name a machine "foo.cs.columbia.edu", where "foo" is a >trademark or a registered trademark, e.g., the name of a video game, a >brand of consumer electronics, the make of an exotic car, or the name >of a computer manufacturer. Have I violated trademark law? I hope not. Remember, Zilog trademarked the letter "Z" and Microsoft trademarked the letters "MS" when placed next to each other. Thus naming anything "ZOOMS" would be a double trademark infringement. I'm probably wasting my time posting this, as our news server doesn't seem to be letting mail out of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. -- ... Michael Ho, University of Nebraska Internet: ho@hoss.unl.edu | Harry was too homely for Sally. (I have proof.) Disclaimer: Views expressed within are purely personal and should not be applied to any university agency.
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (04/16/91)
In article <1991Apr14.183245.345@cs.columbia.edu> ji@cs.columbia.edu (John Ioannidis) writes: >Suppose I name a machine "foo.cs.columbia.edu", where "foo" is a >trademark or a registered trademark, e.g., the name of a video game, a >brand of consumer electronics, the make of an exotic car, or the name >of a computer manufacturer. Have I violated trademark law? Caution: I am not a lawyer. Consult a pro before doing anything rash. :-) The idea behind trademark law is that a trademark denotes a particular vendor's product, so that it will not be confused with competing products. The theory is that you infringe on someone's trademark only when you use it in a way that could cause such confusion. The practice is that different companies have very different ideas about what constitutes potential for confusion, and being sued is painful and costly even if it fails. In practice, the odds are that nobody would care. The odds are good that if anyone did care, they'd send you a nasty letter saying "change those names or we'll sic our lawyers on you". This still wouldn't be fun, mind you. Me, I'd be wary of using names that have anything to do with electronics, but the exotic cars sound reasonably safe. -- And the bean-counter replied, | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology "beans are more important". | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher) (04/16/91)
>>Suppose I name a machine "foo.cs.columbia.edu", where "foo" is a >>trademark or a registered trademark, e.g., the name of a video game, a >The idea behind trademark law is that a trademark denotes a particular >vendor's product, so that it will not be confused with competing products. >The theory is that you infringe on someone's trademark only when you use >it in a way that could cause such confusion. On the other hand, guess (;-}) which aerospace firm sued the two-bit manufacturer of the: Stealth Condom - They'll never see you coming! No cheating, now, class........... -- A host is a host from coast to coast.....wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu & no one will talk to a host that's close............(305) 255-RTFM Unless the host (that isn't close)......................pob 570-335 is busy, hung or dead....................................33257-0335