<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'>----- "Evan Leibovitch" <evan@telly.org> wrote:
<br>><br>> George D. DeMet wrote:<br>> > That's exactly correct, in order for the word Drupal to lose its<br>> > trademark protection through becoming genericized, the word would need<br>> > to become so widely used that people no longer recognized it as only<br>> > referring to a specific product, but as a common term for any similar<br>> > product. Some examples of words that have become genericized in this<br>> > way and lost their trademark protection include Aspirin (still a<br>> > trademark in Canada and many European countries, but not the U.S.),<br>> > escalator, pilates, yo-yo, and Zipper.<br>> This actually makes its way to court from time to time. I think the most<br>> famous case -- one that helped to define the concept -- was in 1958 when<br>> a company called Aladdin started selling "thermos bottles". The Thermos<br>> company wasn't too pleased, but the court ruled that the term had indeed<br>> become generic enough to describe competitive products.<br><br>Because the term Drupal is still known primarily to those who own or operate web sites, it does not reach into "common use" vocabulary?<br><br>If the term does not reach into the wider public, is it at less risk?<br><br>> <br>> > So while I suppose one technically could try to use the word "Drupal"<br>> > to refer to something completely unrelated to Web software or<br>> > communications like, say, a brand of kitchen sink, I still wouldn't<br>> > recommend it. ;-)<br>> Stranger things have happened:<br>> http://www.levenez.com/unix/other/<br><br>At least in America, since it's outside in the domain of what Drupal is used for ... seems less likely this would cause problems? Since one can in principle trademark a certain term in a certain domain whether or not it is used in another as long as not in the same domain, if the term is in a different domain but does not meet the standards of "common use" is the trademark not still valid?<br></div></body></html>