Hmm, I think I get the general theory (though I've never seen it come
up in practice), but I think in the case of APEX it's definitely a
non-issue. If you search the trademark database for APEX and Internet
you'll see that none of the live applications that contain APEX have
it in the word mark:
http://tess.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=toc&state=nj0j62.1.1&p_search=searchstr&BackReference=&p_L=50&p_plural=no&p_s_PARA1=APEX&p_tagrepl%7E%3A=PARA1%24ALL&expr=PARA1+and+PARA2&p_s_PARA2=Internet&p_tagrepl%7E%3A=PARA2%24ALL&a_default=search&a_search=Submit+Query
(Sorry for the long URL ... got to tess.uspto.gov is you want to
construct your own search.)
Carl
Eamon wrote:
------
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.
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".
------
It's hard to predict what any given scum-sucking vermin, errr, IPR lawyer
will do in any given situation. IPR lawyers are roughly-equivalent to
ambulance chasers, but I think the exposure is limited--unless our
*specification* called APEX unduly confuses the customers of some
computer/network vendor with a *product* called APEX, there isn't much of
a case. IPR lawyers, however, are notorious for creating
entirely-artificial
arenas of conflict where the reasonable person would argue that no such
conflict exists. I speak from bitter experience...
--
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Marcus Leech Mail: Dept 8M70, MS 012, FITZ
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-----------------Expressed opinions are my own, not my employer's------