Hi!
At Sun, 19 Jun 2005 17:33:29 +0200, Limin Fu wrote:
> I don't worry about trademarks, I wonder if such single general word
> can be registered as a trademark.
'Kraft' is German for force, 'Heinz' is a German first name, 'Kinder'
is German for 'children'. All three words are trademarks. Some gay
rights group used "Wir gehören zur Familie" (we belong to the family)
and were sent a letter by the company that owned that trademark.
> You mention TAO is a trademark, but it's different from Tao, TAO
> stands for some kind of technology, but Tao not. So I think even if
> I continue to use Tao, there should be no legal problem. And even
> TAO is registered as trademark by different companies or people in
> different places(Google told me this)!
I don't know about the general case but in Germany it is not checked
if a trademark has already been registered. As long as nobody cries
"Hey! That is *mine*!" Nothing will happen. On the other hand any of
the companies that registered the TM can ask you to stop using their
TM (wired but true).
Of course "Tao" and "TAO" are different but at least in Germany it is
sufficient if they are similar enough (whatever that means).
I am not sure if that is a general case because Germany is known to
have quite stupid rules. To get permission to stay in Germany to
study, non-EU citizens need to proof that they are inscribed at a
university. To inscribe at a university you need to proof that you
have permission to stay in Germany. Sounds logical, doesn't it?
Josef 'Jupp' SCHUGT
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