Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!hao!nbires!isis!jay
From: jay@isis.UUCP (Jay Batson)
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: What should be added to C, call it PL/2
Message-ID: <797@isis.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 11-Jun-86 10:52:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: isis.797
Posted: Wed Jun 11 10:52:47 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 15-Jun-86 02:44:11 EDT
References: <36@mit-prep.ARPA> <1628@ecsvax.UUCP> <452@ccird1.UUCP>
Reply-To: jay@isis.UUCP (Jay Batson)
Organization: University of Denver Math and Computer Science
Lines: 51
Keywords: trademark, copyright, PL/I
Summary: Sorry Rex - intent isn't enough

In article <452@ccird1.UUCP> rb@ccird1.UUCP (Rex Ballard) writes:
>In article <1628@ecsvax.UUCP> dgary@ecsvax.UUCP (D Gary Grady) writes:
>>In article <36@mit-prep.ARPA> x@mit-prep.ARPA (Dean Elsner) writes:
>>>Sorry, I don't think you can call it PL/2!
>>>IBM was going to call PL/1 "NPL"...
>>> ... They then registered names PL/1 ... PL/100 (!).
>>>I don't think they reserved PL/0.
>>>I don't know what 'registered' means here, but I presume trademarked.
>>
>>Sounds like an Urban Legend to me.  In the US it is not possible to
>>register a trademark until it has actually been used in trade.
   More later, but Gary is right.
>
>Not quite.  You don't actually have to sell a product using that
>name, just announce your intent to sell a product under that mark.
   Sorry Rex - Wrong.
>Since these customers were inter-state and international, we were
>pretty well covered.

	Rex, you are on the right track with interstate customers, but
you'd better either check the Lanham act if you're an attorney, or hire
one to check it if you aren't.  That act specifies that a "trademark"
must be used in connection with a product sold in "commerce" before it
can be registered.  One sale is enough, but there has to be actual use
in commerce.  (Of course, "commerce" is any trade that congress regulates,
therefore "interstate" is used as the touchstone.) If your sale is
intrastate, there are common-law principals which will protect your
right to be the exclusive user of a name locally.  But the intent of a
company is usually to protect the trademark nationally, and Lanham act
registration is required to do that.

	On Gary's statement, you can "pre-register" corporate names, but
even that doesn't always stand up.  There is an interesting case that
I can supply the cite for if anyone desires (don't have it here today)
where a corporation was formed and registered using its desired name.
However, the corporation did no business under that name.  When a
major Hotel/convention center complex was announced by another company
which planned on using that name, the registered corporation brought suit
to enjoin the hotel developers, relying on their hoped for proprietary
rights in the name.  The court said "too bad".  You must actually do
some business with a name before it can be said to have any value, and
the mere registration of a corporation isn't enough to "protect" a desired
name.

--------

"OK, so now, after it gets dark Lancelot and I will jump out of the rabbit, and
 take the castle by supr........ oh."

Jay Batson
{seismo,hplabs}!hao!isis!jay