[Foundation-l] Registering Wikimedia trademarks

Wed Apr 28 20:23:06 UTC 2004

>This brings up again the issue of whether we should start registering 
>trademarks belonging to the Wikimedia Foundation. Without necessarily 
>resorting to threats of legal action, I think it would be far more 
>effective if we can tell people "Wikipedia is a registered trademark of 
>the Wikimedia Foundation" instead of just "Please do not use the name 
>Wikipedia on your website as if it was the name of your encyclopedia". 
>Trademark registration is something people will recognize and respect. 
>They will generally respond more quickly, and they will be more likely 
>to comply, even if the person notifying them is not in an "official" 
>capacity.

Have we tried telling them "Wikipedia is a trademark
of the Wikimedia Foundation" yet?  How did it work?
Why do we think that adding the adjective "registered"
will make it work better?

-- Toby