[Asterisk-biz] Asterisk Phone or *SHIP

[Netweb Group, Inc.]

Greg!

Thanks for your suggestions. I will keep these in mid while
branding my IP Phone.

Seshu Kanuri

--- Greg Broiles <gbroiles at gmail.com> wrote:

> The people at Digium seem to be pretty diligent is appending
> the
> little "tm" (= trademark) symbol wherever they use the term
> Asterisk.
> I suspect (but perhaps you should confirm this with them)
> that they
> believe they have, or will have, an enforceable trademark in
> the term
> "Asterisk", at least as it relates to VoIP telephony.
> 
> Accordingly, I suspect that you will experience less
> controversy and
> conflict in your life if you choose a name for your product
> that
> doesn't use the term "Asterisk".
> 
> Also, if you find a name for your product that doesn't
> overlap with
> already-existing terms or words, you will have a more
> protectible/valuable trademark in whatever it is that you
> name your
> product.
> 
> Ideally, you would name your product something that isn't
> purely
> descriptive. "SIP Phone" would be a terrible name for a
> product, from
> a trademark perspective, because it's entirely descriptive.
> Anyone can
> sell a SIP-compatible phone and call it a "SIP phone", and
> you can't
> sue them, because you can't get a protectible interest in the
> descriptive aspects of the name.
> 
> On the other hand, if you name your SIP phone
> "Rumplestiltskin", then
> you can go after other people who might want to call their
> phones
> "Rumplestiltskin", too, in order to steal some of your
> business.
> 
> If this is an important project for you, you should find an
> attorney
> who does trademark work and talk this over with them. (I
> don't do
> trademark work.)
> 
> I don't work for Digium, don't think I've ever even met
> anyone who
> works there, and am not offering this as legal advice, just
> some
> common sense.
> 
> -- 
> Greg Broiles, JD, EA
> gbroiles at gmail.com (Lists only. Not for confidential
> communications.)
> Law Office of Gregory A. Broiles
> San Jose, CA
> _______________________________________________
> Asterisk-Biz mailing list
> Asterisk-Biz at lists.digium.com
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
> 


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