[Wikipedia-l] registering Wikipedia as a trademark

Thu Jan 8 08:38:56 UTC 2004

Delirium wrote:

>
> FWIW, it's $335 in the US, also for 10 years.  However, I'm not sure I 
> like the idea of spending our money in this way.  At least in the US, 
> registering a trademark is not necessary to claim trademark ownership: 
> the only requirement is that you show use of the trademark.  In fact, 
> registering doesn't help you if you don't show use of the trademark, 
> so that's the only requirement, registration or not.  Really the only 
> things registration gives you, at least in the US, are the ability to 
> sue for punitive damages, and some procedural things (like petitioning 
> to US customs to ban the importation of infringing foreign products).  
> You can still do the normal "cease and desist" thing without a 
> registered trademark.
>
> Not that registering a trademark is completely worthless, but I think 
> for what we're doing, simply using it is sufficient, and registration 
> gives marginal additional benefits, so we can find better uses for $1k+.

One of the biggest benefits is evidentiary.  If both you and someone 
else try to use the same trademark, the registration is prima facie 
evidence that you used it when you did.  For many small enterprises 
records are often deficient, and proving first use can be a problem.

Ec