On Wed, 2 Aug 2000, Doug Meerschaert wrote:
> Clark has identified himself as a lawyer. None of the rest of us have
> done so. His law degree gives his opinion about the law more weight
> than the rest of us who don't have one.
I'm fairly certain I've identified myself as holding a law degree in early
topics on this listserv, but perhaps not. In any case, I don't think
anyone should put excessive stock in the fact that anyone on the list
holds a law degree. Lawyers can be wrong about the law just like anyone
else; although in this ongoing debate, I feel rather confident of the
positions I've taken. I can only assume Clark does as well. :)
> I suspect this bit of confusion is caused by lack of communication, or
> knowledge as to what exacly a "trademark" is.
>
> Is the word dungeon, as used in the phrase, "lock him in the dungeon",
> the trademarked name of WotC's magazine (in a legal sense)? If so,
> we're screwed. If not, we're great.
It's not. And it can't be. Here's the U.S. governments quick explanation
of what a trademark is:
A TRADEMARK is either a word, phrase, symbol or design, or combination of
words, phrases, symbols or designs, which identifies and distinguishes the
source of the goods or services of one party from those of others.
taken from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office web site
(http://www.uspto.gov/)
It's the final clause that's important here, the word has to be
identifying or distinguishing goods or services for it to be a
trademark. The manner in which you used the word "dungeon" clearly isn't
identifying any good or service. Therefore it's just the word
"dungeon" and not a trademark.
later,
alec
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