Subject: [NEXTEL-1] "Hot-Spot" Deutsche Telekom shocks wireless world by applying to trademark term

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 22:07:42 -0400

Germans say: 'Hans off our hotspot'

By Emma Nash 24-07-2003

Deutsche Telekom shocks wireless world by applying to trademark term

Deutsche Telekom has applied to trademark the word 'hotspot', the popular
way to describe public wireless connectivity points.
Spanish telco Telefonica has also joined in the fiesta by putting in a rival
claim for the two-word alternative, 'hot spot'.

Both claims will come as a shock to the wireless industry, which has always
struggled to translate what it does into user-friendly English (witness
802.11).

The applications have been made through the World Intellectual Property
Organisation, which deals with international trademark applications, and the
European Community system, the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
Market.

The UK Patent Office will make the final ruling. One of its marketing
executives, Jeremy Philpott, warned that any trademark would have to be a
"distinguisher" rather than a generic term. But insiders are fearful.

"This could throw a spanner in the works of what is a new industry," said
Mark Skingley, managing director of wireless internet service provider
Connect Spot.

"By taking a word out of the mainstream and preventing other people from
using it is like trying to trademark the word 'fish'.

"The fact that they want an English word proves it is generic, otherwise it
would surely be 'Hottenspotten'."

http://www.pcw.co.uk/News/1142542

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From: Jack Daniel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 21:38:36 -0700

OK, who's going to trademark "wireless" now? 

A few years ago I posted my idea of a servicemark for colors. Not the
name of the color, the USE of the color itself. I'd chose 'green'.  

There would be a user fee for every controlled street intersection. TV's
without a license to use 'my' color wouldn't be very popular. I could
own Green Bay if I actually wanted it. Ireland I'd take. I'd give a
multi-user discount to the army. Being a socially conscious corporation,
I would donate all foliage to the people and use it's market value as a
tax write-off. Even the money used to pay me would also have to have a
license.  And when I got tired of being the jolly green giant, I'd sell
out to Nextel and they could become the green eyed monster.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 02:41:01 -0400

It is getting ridiculous-

Remember the little sayings we used to recall values of resistor colors?
Maybe I should trademark this.......

Bad............ 0
Boys .......... 1
R****...........2
Our ............3
Young...........4
Girls...........5
But.............6
Violet..........7
Gives ..........8
Willingly..... .9

I repeated this to a group of new EE's interns the other day and immediately drew fire from a few females &  males in the group. My Bat Shield quickly
went up to deflected their verbal assault ( they said it was "Sexist")........so I asked 2 females and a male to recite the color codes.

I felt like I was at Radio Shack............. all I got was blank stares.

Is this what a 100K education is producing today?