Re: Trademarks and nouns - how often?

[Annamaria Profit <inteltek -at- erols -dot- com>]

Eric,

The other issue here is the diligence with which the legal depts
challenge all public use of the trademark.  Writers can "tm" and "r" all
mentions, but if the legal beagles aren't out there tracking public-use
incidents, the effort fails.  Public use happens because the
lawyers/execs are asleep to the consequences.  And once it happens,
there's a serious counter challenge in the courts to any claim of
trademark infringement.

Again, in the advertising industry, I've had the occasion to see both
sides of legal wrath for violating trademark/tradedress/service mark
restrictions.  On one occasion, it came down to sacrificing $4 mil on a
violating campaign a year and a half old!  The client's product manager
is still out there looking for another job!

edunn -at- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com wrote:
> 
> Christi Carew has a good point about the issue (how paranoid your company needs
> to be, or the company whose product you are refering to is) depending on what
> industry you are in. For Bombardier Recreational Products the use of the Ski-Doo
> trademark is tightly monitored. Here in Quebec many will say they are going to "
> va faire du ski-doo" or go ski-doo-ing as oppoed to snowmobiling (regardless of
> the brand of snowmobile). For that reason it is imperative that all company
> literature use "Ski-Doo(tm) snowmobile". The same issue is very important with
> the Sea-Doo brand personal watercraft. The aviation group also has to be wary of
> the use of the Learjet, Challanger, and Dash names (among others).
> 
> In the transportation group on the other hand, the issues mostly focus on the
> corporate branding and image standards than product names.
>
-- 

Annamaria Profit
E-mail: inteltek -at- erols -dot- com
URL: http://www.erols.com/inteltek

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