Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!gatech!rutgers!netsys!vector!nobody From: westmark!dave@rutgers.edu Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Touchtone(tm) and Touchtone(sm) Message-ID: Date: 11 Dec 88 02:29:12 GMT Sender: chip@vector.UUCP Lines: 14 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@bu-cs.bu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 8, issue 198, message 5 Before the divestiture of the telephone companies by AT&T, Touchtone was both a registered trade mark, and a registered service mark. As a trade mark, it covered the telephone sets which send DTMF signaling. As a service mark, it covered the service offered by the telephone companies who received and processed DTMF signaling. As a result of divestiture, the trade mark covered AT&T products, while the service mark covered services offered by seven telco holding companies. Today, no one owns touch tone... as a trade or service mark. It has been dedicated -- which I think is legal jargon for its having been put in the public domain. Dave Levenson westmark!dave