[lit-ideas] Re: Coca-Cola Brown
- From: Teemu Pyyluoma <teme17@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 02:16:42 -0700 (PDT)
I was going to respond to this but lacked time to
finish my post. IANAL and you can basicly forget about
common sense, or any sense, when it comes to
intellectual property laws, but anyway:
"What is a trademark or service mark?
* A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or
a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs,
that identifies and distinguishes the source of the
goods of one party from those of others.
* A service mark is the same as a trademark, except
that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a
service rather than a product. Throughout this
booklet, the terms "trademark" and "mark" refer to
both trademarks and service marks."
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/doc/basic/trade_defin.htm
(there is also a database of all trademarks at the
same site but it was down when I tried it.)
Now the general advice seems to be that trade-marking
personal names (eg. Goodyear) is a bad idea, to defend
that claim you would have to show that the trademark
has aquired a distinct meaning as a source of goods in
public usage, as in Goodyear tires but not as in
Harry's Bar. Also, I can't imagine Goodyear Inc.
having any say on how Goodyear is used as a family
name.
From this you could infer that a sequence of letters
denoting a personal name and a sequence of letter
denoting a trademark are two different legal
enthities. And thus Coca-Cola Brown would not infringe
on trademark rights (btw, Coca-Cola Green might be
clever.)
Another tidbit I learned about trademarks during the
general confusion after Linus Torvalds registered the
trademark Linux, is that a trademark holder is in
practice forced to defend it against any infringement.
The idea is that if he doesn't, it can used against
him in court to show that he doesn't really care for
the trademark in the first place.
BTW, there was a person called "Coca-Cola" Brown. I
googled the phrase and found this:
"Back in the days when most beverages were sold in
glass bottles, there was a need for a bottle opener
that would not crack or break the bottle. So, in 1925
Raymond "Coca-Cola" Brown, an owner of several
bottling plants, started Brown Manufacturing in
Newport News, Virginia. This company held the original
patents for a bottle opener that would become
internationally renowned for its quality. Today, these
bottle openers are produced for bottlers, breweries,
wholesalers, distributors, retailers and other
manufacturers. The STARR "X" bottle opener is printed
with a flat or raised (embossed) logo for premium,
promotional or licensed sales. Over the years, STARR
bottle openers have become collectible because of
their history, trademark and variety of designs. Brown
Manufacturing is currently located in the suburbs of
Atlanta, Georgia, USA."
http://www.bottleopener.com/aboutus/aboutus.htm
Teemu
Helsinki, Finland
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