Re: <nettime> '@Radical Media' threatens radical media conf

[Sandra Braman <braman@uwm.edu>]

Common words can be trademarked if they are used to refer to something 
quite other than what is meant in a common sense way by those words.  
The position taken in this post to nettime is that what @Radical Media 
does is far enough away from the activities of those who see themselves 
within the radical media community that it would have been legitimate 
for them to trademark the phrase.  Trademarks are geographically 
specific, but given this company's clients it may be that they do have 
global reach for the trademark.

An entity that trademarks common words for use to refer to something 
other than what is commonly meant by those words does NOT have the right 
to prevent others from continuing to use those words in their common 
sense way.  Apple can't stop all of us from talking about apples, or 
even selling them, even though it is selling computers trademarked Apple.

Titles cannot be copyrighted.  Another book could be published using the 
title "Radical Media," by an author other than John Downing, either on 
the same subject or on a very different subject.  The issue here, 
though, is trademark law, not copyright law.

Cease and desist orders are often issued in an attempt to simply bully 
someone to stop doing something.  Often they are ONLY efforts to bully 
and present positions that would dissolve in the face of legal 
judgment.  In this case, the decision  not to engage legal advisors 
immediately -- rather than yielding -- may have been premature.  
Non-profit public interest groups such as the Electronic Frontier 
Foundation can provide at minimum an education in the pertinent law; 
collections of other cease and desist orders that have been ignored 
because they weren't actually grounded in a strong legal position; and 
potentially involvement in legal defense if that an actual legal process 
begins.

Sandra Braman


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