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Before the trademark Xerox was invented, there was no word "xerox" in the
langauge; before the trademark Kleenex was invented, there was no wordthe time >of trademarking.
"kleenex". We could test this by looking at dictionaries published at
On the other hand, I would bet you, seriously, that I can find the word
"levitator" in dictionaries published before the Superconductive
Components, Inc. Trademark.
I think that most of us recognize that if you coin a new term, even if it
is a minor variant of an earlier word like "xerography", that you have a
claim. But it seems outrageous to allow claims to pre-existing words.
Richard Grandy
Philosophy
Rice University (neighbor to Paul Chu)