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On 26 Mar 2002, at 9:58, phillip bradfield -- volkshaus wrote: > I can't believe that VW can copyright the word "b*g" - how can this be? And > the word "beetle" - how can a company copyright simple nouns? Any lawyers on > the list? I believe you can register any word you want to as a trademark, as long as no one else has beaten you to it in this same field of business. It is then your trademark as long as you "protect" it. If you let it get out into common use, by letting people just use it without challenge, then you lose it. That's exactly why VW is doing this. I find a couple things interesting about this. One is that it seems to me that it's too late for words like "Bug." The other is how many words do they actually have registered? I doubt if they have, or could have, registered type 3, or fastback while notchback and squareback are just possible. The other big question is why do they feel this is "necessary" when Chevy and Ford obviously don't mind. As far as I know, all you have to do when you use a word that is registered to someone else is to state clearly that they are the owner, ie "VW, Bug, and Beetle are registered trademarks of VWoA." I don't think there's any prohibition against using someone else's trademark, you just have to make it clear who it really belongs to. - Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ------------------------------------------------------------------- Search old messages on the Web! Visit http://www.vwtype3.org/list/