[Foundation-l] Wikipedia trademark being used incorrectly

[Rowan Collins]

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 22:20:23 -0200, Ribamar Santarosa de Sousa
<ribamar.sousa at ic.unicamp.br> wrote:
> I see no problems too. I think is cool Wikipedia be remembered more than
> a site or a trademark, but as an concept.

But what if, as Rich Holton said, someone uses the term for something
that goes completely against our goals, or in such a way that our
image is tarnished? Or even, as I suggested, people deliberately
trading off our name and publicity? And, as I mentioned, what about
the confusion of people thinking that Wikipedia is the place to
discuss things that have nothing to do with it, because they are "a
wikipedia"?

(Hmm, he thinks evilly, this might get some people thinking...) What
if Microsoft decided to rebrand Encarta as "Microsoft Wikipedia" to
make people think they were getting something new, and equal in
quality to the "real" Wikipedia...?

Having a name that uniquely identifies Wikipedia as being Wikipedia is
very useful, and enforcing it as a trademark is the only way we can be
sure of having such a name. What would we say if it became truly
generic "the Real Wikipedia"? "the original and still the best"? "the
Wikipedia wikipedia"?

-- 
Rowan Collins BSc
[IMSoP]