On Thu, 2004-01-08 at 10:34, Delirium wrote:
Kurt Jansson wrote:
So what about registering Wikipedia (and also
Wikimedia?) as a
trademark? I think we can afford it now, and I also think it's
important enough to do it. But in which countries? Maybe in those
where the languages of the biggest five or ten Wikipedias are spoken?
If there is no reaction I consider this as approval and will organize
the registration for Germany. It costs 300 Euro and lasts for 10 years.
FWIW, it's $335 in the US, also for 10 years. However, I'm not sure I
like the idea of spending our money in this way. At least in the US,
registering a trademark is not necessary to claim trademark ownership:
the only requirement is that you show use of the trademark. In fact,
registering doesn't help you if you don't show use of the trademark, so
that's the only requirement, registration or not. Really the only
things registration gives you, at least in the US, are the ability to
sue for punitive damages, and some procedural things (like petitioning
to US customs to ban the importation of infringing foreign products).
You can still do the normal "cease and desist" thing without a
registered trademark.
Not that registering a trademark is completely worthless, but I think
for what we're doing, simply using it is sufficient, and registration
gives marginal additional benefits, so we can find better uses for $1k+.
-Mark
Just as a datapoint. In Finland trademarks registered within the
European Union can register internet domains (private individuals can
not yet do so, though the registration is about to liberalize somewhat
soon), and are protected against cybersquatters claiming the selfsame
domain, at least in some circumstances.
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen (aka Cimon Avaro)