[asterisk-biz] VS-1T Claiming "Trademark" on Hardware

[trixter aka Bret McDanel]

On Sun, 2006-01-22 at 20:00 -0500, The VoIP Connection wrote:
> The trademark protects our name.  It doesn't stop anyone from building
> a similar device but it would give us some legal remedy if you called
> it a VS-1.  Maybe Bret can give Manny the quick rundown on trademark
> law?
>  

Yes that is correct, copyright, trademark and patent law are like
circles (in the US this varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction).
Think of each type being a corcle with a little bit of overlap in the
middle.  

In the US for example you cant copyright a thought process but you can
patent it.  You can copyright a specific implementation of that thought
process though.  Trademarks are a little different, they are typically
product names and/or logos.  They are generally issued where a copyright
wouldnt be sufficient.  To copyright VS-1 wouldnt have as much meaning
becuase of the different set of laws that come into play but a trademark
is better suited.

In the US there are two types of trademarks generally.  One type has a
little more protection  than the other and that is the one filed with
the USPTO.  The other is a 'common law trademark'.  Basically (this may
vary state to state) you file a notice in the legal section of a
newspaper of "general circulation" in your area.  The notice has to be
run 1 time per week for 4 consecutive weeks.  Poof its trademarked (its
best to have at least 3 original certified copies of proof that it ran -
provided by the newspaper, make sure they are all certified not just
copies of 1 that was certified).

Newspapers of 'general circulation' have specific rules to qualify.  The
newspaper should be able to tell you if they qualify, if they dont know
what you are talking about, odds are they arent.  

In the US almost everything can be patented, trademarked or copyrighted,
however typically (but not always) only one of the 3 things.  Different
aspects can fall into each of the 3 (product name, product
implementation, and product concept for example).


> You can copy the box but you still won't have a VS-1.  A big part of
> what makes a VS-1 is the software in it and the company that stands
> behind it.
>  

It goes back to what um um um swomeone said today.  Reputation.  If
anyone can call their product the same as your product how does a
customer know what they are getting is the one with the good reputation?
How do they know they arent getting an inferior product, and further if
they get an inferior product how does their rants about the quality goto
the right target?

Ultimately it affects reputation just as much as old information about a
product or service.  Automobiles in the 1800s didnt perform quite as
well as today, and by todays standards would develop a really bad
reputation.  The same thing would happen to a company that had a
competitor basically clone their device and give it a deceptively
similar name to try to ride the shirt tails of a more successful product
with a good reputation but with a massively inferior product.  

I do not know the quality of either product in this case as such I am
specifically not commenting on the quality of either company or product.

ps mike thanks for the sacaug.org donations, we appreciate them :)
TheVoipConnection.com rox!!!



> 
-- 
Trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com     Bret McDanel
UK +44 870 340 4605   Germany +49 801 777 555 3402
US +1 360 207 0479 or +1 516 687 5200
FreeWorldDialup: 635378
http://www.sacaug.org/ Sacramento Asterisk Users Group
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