[Wikipedia-l] Trademarks and user names

[Ray Saintonge]

Fred Bauder wrote:

>Somewhat, depending on the aggressiveness of the trademark holder. I think I
>heard that even The MacDonald, (the Lord of the Isles) had trouble with
>MacDonald's which is absolutely ridiculous. Probably it is a non-issue as it
>will fall below their radar. 
>
Some of these complaints can get fairly silly.  There has been a case in 
the news recently here in British Columbia.  A couple of guys (i.e. 
"bucks") from the Haida first nation started up a local café which they 
called "Haida-bucks" in their remote community in the Queen Charlotte 
Islands.  When a certain well-known Seattle based coffee merchant caught 
wind of this they began an action for trademark violation against these 
guys.  It's much too early to know where this is going legally, but when 
the news became public the guys started to receive money in the mail 
from complete strangers to fund their legal defence.

Ec