[Foundation-l] Wikipedia trademark being used incorrectly

Fri Nov 19 00:42:42 UTC 2004

Thanks for your replies, Sber of Pelamar. I guess I *did* miss something
that was obvious to everyone else :-)

>> 2. Once the trademark is registered, I really don't understand why "we
have
>> to protect our trademarks". I've always thought it was a good thing for a
>> company when its registered trademark becomes a household commodity to
the
>> extent that it becomes synonymous with the generic item.

>I think, in general this is *not* considered the case. If a trademark
>is not used, or no action is taken to correct generic use of it, the
>trademark becomes invalid - you can't just let everyone call it Coke
>and then complain when someone else writes "Coke" on the label.

I read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark after you pointed to it, and I
see what you're saying. I didn't realize the scenario that you have to
defend every abuse, otherwise lose the right to ever do so. Thanks for the
clarification!

~ Chitu