Though the question below concerns the IETF's newly approved APEX
specifications, its could really be posed for the titles of the output
of many working groups within IETF, so I am posting this question to the
general IETF list.
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I know the official answer to this question is "consult a good
trademark lawyer", and I know that engineers are not qualified in
trademark law, but would anyone have an "unoffical" comment on the
trademark status of the term "APEX".
If you plug in "APEX" to a trademark search engine such as:
http://www.nameprotect.com/cgi-bin/FREESearch/search.cgi
you will see there are plenty of approved registrations of "APEX",
including some in the all-important category 42 - which cover computer
programming.
So where does this leave the use of the term in the IETF APEX
specifications?
A) Is the IETF leaving itself open to legal attack from "APEX"
registered trademark owners?
Or:
B) Is a "specification" distinct from a software product, and therefore
they fall into distinct trademark categories?
Or:
C) Is a "specification" not a product or a service at all, and as such
it is not affected by trademarks, so this is not an issue?
(A software company that creates a product that implements a
specification would have to be concerned about the naming of that
product, but there are no restrictions on the naming of specifications).
Thanks,
Eamon
P.S. Any URLs to back up you answer would be much appreciated.