Re: Don't you dare say "levitator!"

[William Beaty <billb@eskimo.com>]

Jack says:
>       Richard Grandy makes the valid point (which I will restate)
> that one cannot have a valid trademark that restricts the usage of an
> ordinary descriptive term.  

Allowing the trademark "Levitator," restricts a usage which is not common
in the general population, but as a technical term is NOT unusual when
regarding magnetic levitation, which is what their product is all about. 
I have no problem with the term "Levitron", I don't use it as a
descriptive term when discussing magnetic levitators. 

> The distinction is a bit different than Richard
> states.  The US Patent and Trademark Office grants a Trademark on a
> showing (to state it very roughly, I don't want to drag out the statute)
> that one of the following is true: 
> 	1.  The word is fanciful and was previously known (Kleenex)
> 	2.  The the word, although descriptive, is used in a fanciful
> context (don't use <Hefty> when referring to any old kitchen bag)
> 	3.  The word, though descriptive, has come to be associated by the
> public with the particular article in question.  The use of the word is
> then restricted when applied to articles of a similar kind.

I would say it must be number four: that the gov't people didn't know
enough about the situation to know that "levitator" is in the dictionary
and in use in the technical community, and so did not know that number two
does not apply.  But now that company has an investment in "levitator", so
I can see that what looks like unethical behavior to outsiders would
gradually look more and more acceptible to them. 

I wonder, are technical terms usually considered "ordinary use?"  For
example, if some company trademarked "freeware" and started defending it,
would the resulting scorn of the entire internet be entirely justified?  I
think so.  Yet that term is rare, except in the software world.  Should we
be forbidden to use "freeware" as a descriptive term?  That strikes me as
an identical and analogous issue.  Then again, such a thing does create
publicity.  Merchants who sell controversial products do much better when
newspapers run articles which attack them.  Along those lines... 

The actual product is an extremely dense HTSC disk, which I guess would
have much higher threshold current and levitation forces than the normal
inexpensive sintered disks.

  http://www.superconductivecomp.com/levitator.htm

I can feel for these guys.  We fickle customers might learn "brand
loyalty" from a familiar term, or we might have an extreme reaction to
being cautioned that a previously-used technical term is now off limits
for everyday use.   This doesn't change my opinion though.  Fortunately I
didn't use the "forbidden" term more than once on my website, so I don't
have many selfish issues in wanting to attack their use of it.


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William J. Beaty                             SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
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