[Hopefully I will now manage to forward this reply to the _right_
mailing list - my first attempt to contribute to the Wiki mailing lists
wasn't too successful!]
In message <20030507205434.GD5102(a)jeluf.mine.nu>nu>, Jens Frank
<JeLuF=Mmb7MZpHnFY(a)public.gmane.org> writes
Hello,
A new user registered a few days ago using the name "Harry Potter".
Warner Bros and JK Rowling have a trademark registered for this
name.
On the new users talk page (
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk%3AHarry_Potter ),
MammaBaer posted some concerns about the user name and its legal
status. I'm not experienced in trademark law, so I post this to
the list.
Is the use of a trademarked name as a username problematic?
I wouldn't have thought so if he doesn't try to engage in wizardry. It
may conceivably even be his real name. Even as apparently unusual a name
(in an English-language context) as my own is not unique, as I know I
have had a rugby-playing namesake which used to result in some strange
newspaper headlines appearing on the office noticeboard on a Monday
morning! :)
Arwel Parry