Prior use as a generic term isn't always enough though.
In 1994 a competitor to Interop trademarked the generic word "shownet" as
a purely hostile move, forcing Interop to stop using it because it had not
previously been trademarked and the theory was that it would take to much
time and money to fight.
Thus, it is now called "InteropNet" and yes, it's heavily trademarked.
Ole
Ole J. Jacobsen
Editor and Publisher
The Internet Protocol Journal
Office of the CTO, Cisco Systems
Tel: +1 408-527-8972
GSM: +1 415-370-4628
E-mail: ole(_at_)cisco(_dot_)com
URL: http://www.cisco.com/ipj