At 12:13 PM 1/7/97 -0500, you wrote:
>> All of the lists I am associated with are for Baseball teams in the U.S.
All
>> of them use the team nickname (a registered trademark) as the list name.
The
>> lists are for discussion and not for commercial gain. If anything, they are
>> good publicity for the teams who own the trademark.
>
>Good point. Maybe a letter to the organisation in question may be in
>order, pointing out the pluses of the publicity.
>
 
You're always going to be asked or ordered to cease and desist before you
get sued.  So, why look for trouble by asking now?  If you ask, they'll
likely refuse, just because they don't understand it, or because they DO
understand it and also realize that the fans may also say a few NEGATIVE or
critical or hostile things that they don't want on a listserv with their
trademarked name.  It is always easier to ask forgiveness than to ask
permission.
 
Also, remember the people who are protecting their trademarks (which I
support) are ALSO some of the people who are trying to restrict free use of
the SCORES of the GAMES, which they claim to own.  This could mean the
newspaper, Yahoo, etc, etc, would have to PAY to be able to publish the
scores, which for most any team besides the Jets would be positive
publicity too.  This would even mean, if it gets approval, that you
couldn't legally sit at the ball game and on your cell phone call a buddy
and tell him what the score was.
 
cheers
 
cyclops
 
Dan Lester
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In the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is king.