Re: Cease and Desist!

• Date: Sun, 2 Jun 1996 19:17:17 PDT
• From:
  hpa@trantor.zytor.com (H. Peter Anvin)
• Reply-To:
  hpa@storm.net (H. Peter Anvin)
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• Newsgroups: local.moo
• Organization: Where Stormnet meets the Internet
• References: <199606021650.RAA15506@suma3.rdg.ac.uk> <9606022001.AA17670@tom.eng.mvision.com>

Followup to:  <9606022001.AA17670@tom.eng.mvision.com>
By author:    tom@mvision.com (Tom Ritchford)
In newsgroup: local.moo
> 
> Neither of these is at all effective...
> 
> HOWEVER, there are many, many classes of copyright, depending on what
> business you are in.  Often people get several but you'd not get all
> of them.  That would mean that a Mystical Crossroads restaurant would
> not conflict with a fabric designer of the same name.
> 
> SO, I'd ask him what category of copyright he has... it's almost certainly
> nothing that conflicts with the usage in the MOO.

Please don't confuse trademarks with copyright (the adjective of
which is copyrighted, by the way -- a pet peeve of mine).  They are
*completely* different kinds of intellectual property, and obey
completely different rules.

What you mention above is correct for trademarks -- a trademark
applies to a specific business category.

> Even if you are violating the copyright, all he can get out of you
> is damages.  He'd have to prove that you had actually cost him money!
> Fat chance...

Not true.  All he would have to prove is infringement, and if his
trademark is registered, he can sue for legal costs.

> He could also get an injunction to prevent you using the name even if
> you had not cost him money... but then you just rename the room.
> 
> He'd basically be certain to lose money if he sued you.

No doubt.  Odds for him winning this one sounds like about
1:10^(bullshit factor in Congress).

> Copyright law is NOT like liability law.  I think that you could safely
> even just ignore him!  But, by all means, find out what category he holds
> so you can make an informed decision.
> 
> DISCLAIMER:  I learned something about this because we are in a copyright
> dispute... I'm not a legal professional and I make mistakes in general!

Same disclaimer applies.  THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE - FOR ME TO PROVIDE
LEGAL ADVICE WOULD BE AGAINST CALIFORNIA LAW.

	-hpa


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• Re: Cease and Desist!
• From: M.K.Houghton@reading.ac.uk
• Re: Cease and Desist!
• From: tom@mvision.com (Tom Ritchford)

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