I trademarked a word quite some time back. I let it expire because I
wasn't making any money on it.
It's not a difficult process. You can do it without a lawyer. I went
to the US PTO and did the research. I had the research done and the form
filled out to submit before I left there that day. Shortly after that, I
received my trademark registration.
Some people can be real jerks about their trademarks. A fellow I know
who runs his amateur radio callsign as his Web site (example: My call is
WB4AEJ. My ham Web site is: http://www.wb4aej.com). A corporation using
the last three letters of his callsign for their trademark contacted him
threatening to sue him for violating their trademark.
On the advice of a number of other radio amateurs (including myself), he
contacted a lawyer at the ARRL (our nation amateur radio organization).
That lawyer told him to write a letter back to that lawyer and told him what
legalese to use. They backed down and the fellow still has his Web site
under his call sign.
Regards,
Fred, WB4AEJ
----- Original Message -----
From: <scouter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <list@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 11:20 PM
Subject: Re: [RLopen] Webring trademarked
Hello,
I wasn't aware thet anyone could trademard a word. A logo - ok.
My webring was started in 1996 and My webring logo has been on the
internet ever since. The word webring was part of my ring name and logo,
before yahoo even thought of buying it.
Maybe I'm off my rocker, but I don't think they can trademark the "word"
webring, their logo - ok. It appears thet they are tring to eliminate
anyone that owns/runs something simmular to what they offer.
My two cents worth !
scoutring
In a message dated 29/10/2007 01:31:38 GMT Standard Time,
scouter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
<< Hello Gunner,
I just recieved an email today from Webring.com, telling me that I
cannot
use the "word" webring in the name of my ring, The Scouting Webring. I
was surprised to hear that they registered it as their own trademark
and
now after all of the past years of the word being used by everyone on
the
internet, no one else can use it.
I'm confused, how do they think they own the word ? My ring used to be
on
webring years ago, and I moved it to my own domain and the ringlink
program in 2000.
Your continued thoughts are appricated.
scoutring >>
@ This is quite alarming.
How about using two separate words: Web and Ring.
I would imagine it's just the single term 'Webring' that is
trademarked.
I
don't see how they can stop you from using the two common words Web and
Ring
together.