Trademarks for "e-commerce"
zzfritz <[email protected]> 14 Jan 2003 00:45:43 -0000
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.web.oscommerce.laws |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <b8915d148ef5dcdfebff9d6ef749639e@osCommerce-Forums> |
This message was sent from: E-Commerce Laws http://forums.oscommerce.com/viewtopic.php?p=99234#99234 ---------------------------------------------------------------- For what it is worth, the coined term "e-commerce" is considered sufficiently generic that the US trademark office requires it to be disclaimed in any application to register a mark containing it. The form of such a disclaimer is "NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "E-COMMERCE" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN" One example of a registered mark in which the application contains such a disclaimer is "SPRINT E-COMMERCE SOLUTIONS" (Reg. No. 2538071, Feb. 12, 2002). So, this registered mark is infringed only by a mark confusingly similar to the whole phrase. No one owns exclusive rights in words or phrases which are the generic names for things. That is an important and reasonable principle deeply embedded in trademark law.