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"Germans apparently allow all sorts of English words to be trademarked." Like "Apple"?
by tlrobinson 14y ago
"Germans apparently allow all sorts of English words to be trademarked."
Like "Apple"?
- protomyth 14y agoIn the US, you couldn't trademark the word "Apple" in the food category since it is the term for a group of fruits. It is valid in other categories.
- scoot 14y agoWhich means it should at most be blocked for categories in which a trademark is held, not for ads in other categories, or use as a generic word - if at all.
- protomyth 14y agoNot sure about German law or how much research they do into words before they allow the trademark. It does seem a bit of due diligence was missed.
- jcampbell1 14y agoYou are right, that may not be a fair characterization. The problem I see is how a list of trademarked words becomes blacklisted for use in advertising. I am fine if Germans want to let any word be trademarked, and then sort it out later in the court system. But we have a situation where the trademark list is auto-uploaded to Google and stops the word "hackathon" from being used in ads in Germany, thus a real problem.
- jakobe 14y agoThe automatic trademark blacklist in Google adwords is really idiotic even if the trademark is valid. I once tried making an ad for my Mac app, and I couldn't include the word "Mac" or "Mac OS" in the copy because they are trademarks.
- PostOnce 14y agoI had literally the exact same issue. They said I had to get them paperwork from Apple's legal department, ignoring Apple trademark page saying it's okay to use the Mac trademark to sell a Mac app which I forwarded to them with an explanation. My exact ad said "Try _____, a better way to _____ for Windows and Mac". They didn't mention the Windows trademark. Pfft.
- babebridou 14y ago"Bonjour(tm), tu as touché(tm) du doigt un vrai problème durant ton exposé(tm)." "Hello, you pointed out a real issue during your talk."