Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 5078203" data-attributes="member: 463">lonewolfdevel - I'm only going to say this once.&nbsp; US TM law requires you to enforce your mark vs infringers, or risk losing it.&nbsp; An infringer is someone using your mark (or similar) commercially, ie in connection with an offering of same or similar* goods or services, such that a customer might think their company/product/service was associated with yours - same company, licensed product etc.&nbsp; Using a term in a bulletin board discussion is very obviously not commercial use.*Famous marks can get protection vs non-similar uses that tarnish or dilute the mark, but while that might help WoTC sue the manufacturer of Dungeons &amp; Dragons sex toys, it won't help you as your mark is not famous.As a separate issue, a mark risks losing protection if it becomes a generic term, but that does not give you any legal right to sue people who use the term generically!&nbsp; Businesses engage in customer education campaigns to try to keep terms like Xerox and Hoover non-generic, but they don't, and can't, sue the public.Finally, Copyright law is not the same as Trade Mark law.&nbsp; Never never never mix up the two.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 5078203, member: 463"] lonewolfdevel - I'm only going to say this once. US TM law requires you to enforce your mark vs infringers, or risk losing it. An infringer is someone using your mark (or similar) [B]commercially, ie in connection with an offering of same or similar* goods or services,[/B] such that a customer might think their company/product/service was associated with yours - same company, licensed product etc. Using a term in a bulletin board discussion is very obviously not commercial use. *Famous marks can get protection vs non-similar uses that tarnish or dilute the mark, but while that might help WoTC sue the manufacturer of Dungeons & Dragons sex toys, it won't help you as your mark is not famous. As a separate issue, a mark risks losing protection if it becomes a generic term, but that does not give you any legal right to sue people who use the term generically! Businesses engage in customer education campaigns to try to keep terms like Xerox and Hoover non-generic, but they don't, and can't, sue the public. Finally, Copyright law is not the same as Trade Mark law. Never never never mix up the two. [/QUOTE]

Verification