[Foundation-l] Wikipedia trademark being used incorrectly

[Scott Nelson]

On Nov 19.2004, at 08:54, Rowan Collins wrote:

> No, the key difference is that there is already a word for wikis:
> "wiki", and this is not the same as the name of our site. Why should
> we give up all rights over the name of our site just because people
> don't know that term yet?

Actually, the order of events matters. Your earlier comment about 
Google trying to register "B Blogger" illustrates this; they know whey 
would probably not succeed with Blogger - had they tried to register 
Blogger 4 years ago, they wouldn't have had the problem.

> I'm going to end with a repeat of a point I already made: if we don't
> claim "Wikipedia" as a trademark - and that means being seen to
> discourage its use as a generic term - anyone can use it for a rival
> product. So, to put it bluntly, would you be happy to let Microsoft
> rename "Encarta" to something like "MSN Wikipedia"? If you would, then
> fine, we'll agree to differ; I know I wouldn't.

If Microsoft decided to launch an MSN encyclopedia that was developed 
using Wiki software, then MSN Wikipedia would be a perfectly good name 
for it, in my view. Many (you included, I suspect) would argue 
otherwise - quite vigorously in all probability.

I'm looking at this from a slightly different perspective I think: 
treat the Wikipedia name as the banner marquee sample project for the 
Wiki software. I can tell you that I know several people who are aware 
of Wikipedia and nobody that I can think of who has any knowledge of 
Wikimedia, Wiki (in general) or any of the other projects.

Rather than try to protect Wikipedia, let it spread and flourish. 
Wikipedia is the Wiki software's flag on the moon.

But that's just one man's opinion.
--
Skot Nelson
skot at penguinstorm.com