Mentor Cana <[log in to unmask]> writes:
>I need some advice on this.
>This morning I received a letter from an organization claiming that the
>name I have given to my list is a trademark (by that organization).
>...Now, because of this they are asking me to change the name of my list...
 
A pertinent analogy might be Internic's policy for registering domain
names. Initially, they'd register any domain name, and took a "none-of-
our-business" attitude over name conflicts between trademark owner
and domain-name owner (the two contesting parties had to work it out,
amicably or otherwise).
 
They've realized since that they can't be uninvolved. According to an
article I think I read in Internet World (or perhaps it was Wired),
my recollection of the article's statement of Internic's current policy
went something like this:
 
- A trademark owner will always have precedence over someone who
merely uses the name, regardless of which came first or for how long
the name was used by the non-trademark-owner.
 
In other words, even if you had the domain name for years (but didn't
trademark it), but an upstart company trademarked the name yesterday,
Internic will support their trademark claim over your existing (and
possibly long-standing) domain name claim.  (Presumably you could contest
the trademark itself in court, but Internic would go with whoever owned
the trademark.) I didn't quite understand how they'd resolve trademark
conflicts across different countries, since domain names are International
in scope and trademarks are typically by country (or perhaps some
groups of countries have agreements relative to each others trademarks).
 
At any rate, I certainly got the impression that the trademark owner
would definitely be in the driver's seat in conflicts like this.
 
Shahrukh
--
Shahrukh Merchant