Date:         Sun, 21 Feb 1999 06:58:40 -0500
Reply-To:     Richard Golen <rgolen@UMASSD.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Richard Golen <rgolen@UMASSD.EDU>
Subject:      Re: HELP - The Volkswagen Lawyers are after me! - HELP
Comments: To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
In-Reply-To:  <3.0.3.32.19990220202554.011a511c@mail.abccom.bc.ca>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

At 08:25 PM 2/20/99 -0800, David Marshall wrote:
>Help!   =:O
>I recieved a register letter in the mail yesterday from the lawyers that
>represent Volkswagen of Americia.  Coments and suggestions please - lets
>hope that VANAGON.COM isn't next.
>
Sorry David,

Its all within their power and is all quite legal. Any company, whether it
is VW, McDonalds, Apple, IBM, etc..etc...has a right to protect its
"intellectual property" (patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trade marks,
trade names, etc.) from unauthorized usage.

McDonalds has done this on the internet by going after domain names such as
"McDonalds", "BigMac", etc... Other companies have gone after those who
have used their trademarks in titles of magazines without permission.

Trademarks are the most vulnerable. If a company does not protect its
trademark, it becomes part of the public domain. For example - aspirin.
Aspirin was the trademark of Bayer for the pain reliever product it
developed in the late 1800s. Other companies used the name, Bayer for a
number of reasons did not protect the name, and  aspirin became the generic
name for that type of pain reliever.

Coke sends inspectors to restaurants that serve Pepsi and purposely ask for
Coke to see if they get served Pepsi without being told its Pepsi...



Ric