Re: Trademark policy for packages?
On Wed, Feb 01, 2006 at 09:18:10PM -0500, Nathanael Nerode wrote:
> Henning Makholm <henning@makholm.net> wrote:
> > Does the use of a trademark word to refer unambiguously to a specific
> > technical protocol in package descriptions and documentation (that is,
> > not in marketing materials) even require a trademark license? I know
> > that it certainly does not in Denmark, but of course that does not say
> > anything about the rest of the world.
>
> It does not in the US either, last time I checked.
>
> The legitimate purpose of a trademark is to prevent confusion about the origin
> of the good (or service), and this sort of usage doesn't cause confusion.
Many trademarked logos are used a bit differently: sometimes with a license
fee, or to indicate having passed a test suite, or some other kind of
approval, like ESRB ratings. It's also to "prevent confusion", but not
regarding the product's origin. Of course, the same principle applies;
I don't think trademark prevents me from saying "this is the ESRB logo
indicating 'Teen': <img>".
--
Glenn Maynard
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