Re: [gl4java-usergroup] Re: trademarks

[Kerry L. B. <ke...@vs...>]

At 02:28 PM 4/12/00 +0200, Max Gilead wrote:
>
>"Kerry L. Bonin" wrote:
>
>> For marks protecting products or product lines, it is considered "dilution"
>> and "confusing to the marketplace" if someone else uses a product or
>> product name which encorporates your mark, no matter how subtly.
>
>One thing I don't understand: there are zillions web pages, magazines that
are
>named like "JavaCats", "JavaCenter", "Javablahblah" etc. Is it OK??
>
>Does *ALL* other software folks that uses Java in their names pay for it?

That's one of those gray "fair use" areas.  For non-product names, such as
a news and information site, a mark holder can [generally] cut leeway
without it being used against them in a product related suit.  Some
organizations choose to be aggressive and stop everybody from doing
anything - Disney, Lego.  Others allow more slack.  The pseudo-"open"
aspect of the "community process" and the "open" Java standards forces this
position somewhat.  

The differentiating factor is product vs. non-product, regardless of
product price and terms.

It all comes back to mark "dilution" suits for product infringement.  One
interesting current example is the Sun-M$ suit r/e Microsoft's attempts to
continue to use the term "Java" for their increasingly divergent
implementation.  For example, if Sun doesn't watch how "Java" is used,
Microsoft may win the right to call their implementation "ActiveJava" or
"BillyBoyJava" or "RealJava" regardless of specification compliance.
Kerry L. Bonin
Sr. Engineer, Security/Cryptography & Advanced Visualization, Cisco Systems.
VScape lead architect - Adaptive secure clustering for multiuser VR.