On Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:14:24 +0100, Michael Hamann <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Excerpts from Esther Brunner's message of 2011-03-30 09:35:25 +0200: [...]Don't panic. First, I think that Mike is right: These terms of services don't apply to our DokuWiki plugins, at least the one originally written by me doesn't share a line of code or use the services of doodle.com in any way.Okay, but in most cases you still aren't allowed to offer a product/software that uses a trademark as name.
In the UK and possibly throughout Europe this only applies within an industry classification. Some years ago Granada TV tried to prevent Ford bringing out the Ford Granada in the UK. They failed because one was a television station and the other was a car. By the same token Ford could bring out a car called the Ford Coca-Cola if they really wanted to. Similarly anyone can produce a DokuWiki plugin called "Granada" or "Coca-Cola", though it is probably not a very good idea.
Again in the UK there was a case involving the names "Berlei" and "Bali". They were both brands of ladies underwear. There is was decided that there was an infringement.
I would have thought that this would be the same in the USA, but there the 'cease and desist' lawyers appear to be able to get away with almost anything. Personally, I would argue my case but for many it costs less to simply give in.
-- Don The views expressed are mine alone, unless, of course, you agree with me. But then again, I could be wrong ... -- DokuWiki mailing list - more info at http://www.dokuwiki.org/mailinglist
