On 11/7/05, Daniel Mayer <maveric149(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
--- Delirium <delirium(a)hackish.org> wrote:
What trademark violation is going on here?
Trademark law only prohibits
commercial use of a trademark for a competing product in the same
market.
Trademark law does not only prohibit commercial use. Any use which dilutes
a
mark in a particular market is a potential violation. Using a mark that
implies
an official connection when no such connection exists is also a potential
violation.
-- mav
There is federal trademark law and there is federal dilution law. Dilution
law requires the mark to be "famous", and doesn't require it to be used in
a
competing sense. However, I believe it relies on the interstate commerce
clause (the copyright clause is unlikely to apply), and according to US Code
Section 1125 the dilution must be made "on or in connection with any goods
or services, or any container for goods". Even then there is still fair use.
So I'm not sure what you mean by "a potential violation", but I can't
find
any dilution law which regulates non-commercial use. Maybe you could point
out some evidence that I just haven't found the law you're talking about.
Anthony