[Foundation-l] Wikipedia trademark being used incorrectly

[Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales]

Rowan Collins wrote:
> I think the main reason this hasn't been done, is that there is no
> such thing as *internationally* registering a trademark, and because
> registration costs money. Thus there was some concern that proper
> research be made into with whom it would be most appropriate to
> register it (whether, for instance, it was possible to register in one
> go for all EU countries) before setting off on the potentially very
> costly course of registering it anywhere and everywhere.

This paragraph is wrong on virtually all counts.  First, international
trademark registrations are done under the terms of the Madrid
Protocol and Madrid Agreements.  This is something that I'm in the
process of doing, but it is time consuming of course.  (And will cost
money, and judgment calls do need to be made.)

> Oh, and not to mention which trademarks to register - there's not just
> Wikipedia, there's Wikimedia, Wikiquote, Wiktionary, Wikisource; and
> alternate spellings used in some languages, like Vikipedio in
> Esperanto and Wicipedia in Welsh (these would probably be covered by
> their similarity to the original, but it all needs careful
> consideration)

Indeed, some of these have been registered, and some not.  It's a
judgment call, and something that is improving steadily as I register
more and more of them.

--Jimbo