Re: [Templates] TT2 quick reference card

> Some of the associations that they claim as trademarks seem a little far

> Some of the associations that they claim as trademarks seem a little far 
> reaching to me -- the case of "the image of a GNU and the topic of GNU 
> Emacs" springs to mind.  Is RMS and the FSF in breach of O'Reilly's 
> trademarks?

[IANALYYY]

Welcome to the US Legal System: Claim everything, threaten regarding
most, go to court over much, and actually have some.  [That's a generic
comment -- I haven't heard of O'Reilly being mean]

Trademark decisions are (supposedly) based on consumer confusion.  If
they can't prove that consumers are confused over the issue, there's no
case.  So if the consumers (us) can tell the difference between the GNU
gnu, and the O'Reilly gnu, all is good.  I don't recall if that's the
"average consumer" or the "average consumer of the given product".

The twisted part is that prior existance doesn't matter much if you
didn't apply for trademark protection. [Warning: the following is a
fuzzy memory from a case in law school that was I wasn't attending]
Mcdonalds (fast food) was able to force a motel called Mcdonalds to
change their name, even though the motel name predated Mcdonalds
registering the trademark in that state.  [They were able to show
consumers thought the motel was related to the fast-food place, and the
motel never registered a trademark]

Unlike copyright, you don't "breach" someone's trademark until they
complain.  If they aren't complaining, it's that they are failing to
defend it.

        -- 
        SwiftOne  /  Brett Sanger
swiftone@xxxxxxxx.xxx   

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