Re: JDEE - Trademark Issues

> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] 
> Sent: Friday, August 04, 2006 6:04 PM
> To: Paul Kinnucan
[snip standard lawyer trademark letter]
[a rather polite one, at that]

> Please do not use Java as a noun, but rather as an adjective, followed

Snicker.  King Canute on the seashore, anyone?

While I understand that the idiocies of trademark law make letters like 
this a legal necessity, it never ceases to amaze me that lawyers think 
that they can roll back the transmogrification of a word from one part 
of speech to another by fiat.

When lawyers started verbifying "Shepards" into "Shepardize", 
Lexis-Nexis had the good sense to go with the flow and trademark the 
verb forms.  You would think more attorneys would catch onto that trick 
instead of insisting that their trademark always be used as a 
noun/verb/adjective/whatever.

-- 
Paul