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Xref: sserve gnu.misc.discuss:6167 comp.org.eff.talk:8985 comp.unix.bsd:4768 comp.os.mach:2093 Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!moe.ksu.ksu.edu!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!news From: brtmac@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu (Brett McCoy) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss,comp.org.eff.talk,comp.unix.bsd,comp.os.mach Subject: Re: Are you sure UNIX is a trade mark? Date: 8 Sep 1992 19:25:02 -0500 Organization: Kansas State University Lines: 17 Distribution: inet Message-ID: <18jg8uINN888@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu> References: <1992Sep2.220141.17026@nntp.hut.fi> <1992Sep4.234429.18294@newsgate.sps.mot.com> <Bu5DBu.IA6@rahul.net> <1992Sep8.135040.5243@pegasus.com> <BRUNER.92Sep8172455@sp15.csrd.uiuc.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: maverick.ksu.ksu.edu In-reply-to: bruner@sp15.csrd.uiuc.edu's message of 8 Sep 92 17:24:55 In article <BRUNER.92Sep8172455@sp15.csrd.uiuc.edu> bruner@sp15.csrd.uiuc.edu (John Bruner) writes: >One cannot assert that a trademark has lost its protected status just >because it is a widely-recognized name. "Kleenex" is almost certainly >a more widely-recognized name than "UNIX", but it is still a >registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark. You can to do exactly that. Once a name become used to refer to a generic product, and not a specific brand, the trademark is lost. Kleenex, if it hasn't already happened, will cease to become a trademark when the current term (for lack of a better word) runs out. The same is likely to happen to Xerox, and has happened for many other "brands". If you'd like I can post an entire list of trademarks that have lost trademark status due to common usage. ++Brett;