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From: dick@cs.vu.nl (Dick Grune)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Public Domain trademark
Message-ID: <874@tjalk.cs.vu.nl>
Date: Sun, 20-Sep-87 09:55:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: tjalk.874
Posted: Sun Sep 20 09:55:28 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 20-Sep-87 21:34:09 EDT
Organization: V.U. Informatica, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Lines: 19
Keywords: legislature trademarking

Having been flabbergasted more than once by American legislature, I'm
still amazed to find that Apollo Computer Inc. has managed to trademark
the term Public Domain.  From their recent glossy folder I quote:

Apollo and Domain are registered trademarks of Apollo Computer Inc.
	... Public Domain ... are trademarks of Apollo Computer Inc.

Not that it worries me, since it is far from my bedside, but what
legal consequences could this have?  Can anyone trademark any standing
expression and override its semantics?  Seems to me that even the
American language is in need of legal advice!

					Dick Grune
					Vrije Universiteit
					de Boelelaan 1081
					1081 HV  Amsterdam
					the Netherlands
					dick@cs.vu.nl
					...!mcvax!vu44!dick