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All of them. If you start protecting words in the English language it requires us to expand the language thus diminishing it's usefulness in future. Personally
by precisioncoder 14y ago
All of them. If you start protecting words in the English language it requires us to expand the language thus diminishing it's usefulness in future. Personally I would say any word that is in a dictionary should not be possible for a trademarked name. Words that are added after the company for instance Skyping as a term for making a VOIP call or Kleenex as a term for tissue should be allowed to keep the name but as soon as it is entered in the dictionary all other companies should be forbidden to use it.
- drcube 14y agoWhat about phrases?
- precisioncoder 14y agoIf they contain English words I would say no. Otherwise we get into the same argument about similar phrases etc.
- bdcravens 14y agoI wonder if the discussion changes if we use the same argument against HN-beloved companies, like Buffer or Stripe. A company named Stripe Processing that processes credit cards would be safe, as I'm referring to the "stripe" on every credit card, not a specific company.
- micampe 14y agoWhich dictionary? Who defines it? Who decides when Kleenex or App are to be included? Are words ever removed from that dictionary? What about foreign language dictionaries? What about foreign words transliterations to a different alphabet? What about made-up words that sound like an existing word with different spelling? Acronyms?
- colanderman 14y agoThese questions are are pretty well answered by trademark law. Most of it boils down to a judge's decision, who, by the way, can decide that a hereforeto novel term has become generic (much as Xerox, Kleenex, and Photoshop are in danger of becoming), hence why you see ridiculous efforts by companies with household names to prevent verbification of their names.
- micampe 14y agoI know, I was challenging the idea that it should not be allowed to trademark words in “the dictionary”. It’s a judge decision, there is no formal list of disallowed words, and my point is that there can’t be one, in the real world.
- darkarmani 14y agoIn danger of becoming? I'm not exactly sure why Kleenex or Frisbee are not already generic along with "coke" in the South.
- precisioncoder 14y agoExcellent question, it would be wonderful to have a world dictionary of words in usage with standards on how to add or remove words in a democratic way. For now an example would be to pick the 5 most used dictionaries in that language. I agree that it should include all languages, perhaps a database would need to be created of forbidden words that could be easily searched. I certainly haven't worked out all the details, but if it were implemented then these problems could be solved.
- micampe 14y agoI think that is a very naive reasoning.
- colanderman 14y ago> If you start protecting words in the English language Trademark law doesn't do this. Trademark law protects the use of certain words or phrases in the context of the goods or products they mark. The Feds won't come knocking on your door for naming your dog Kleenex.
- precisioncoder 14y agoLegally perhaps, but if I say Skype the product Skype comes to mind, that's fine, because their company name became a verb. In the other direction however if I take a word such as "Apple" and name my company that then I gain an advantage that any time anyone who speaks English eats an Apple my company name has the chance to come to mind. This restricts the English language by binding generic words through memory to companies thus diluting their usefulness.
- colanderman 14y ago> any time anyone who speaks English eats an Apple my company name has the chance to come to mind I can't say this has ever happened to me.