Re: title protection?

On Sun, May 21, 2000, Bernard Katz <bkatz[_at_]uoguelph.ca> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 19 May 2000, Marty Hayes <9ball[_at_]hostsite.net> wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, 18 May 2000, Robert Cumbow <rcumbow[_at_]grahamdunn.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > [...]
> > > You emphatically CANNOT "trademark" a book title. You CAN
> > > register a trademark that is used to identify a SERIES of
> > > books. That trademark may or may not appear in the titles
> > > of the books, but it must appear on ALL of the books -- it
> > > cannot be the title of a single work.
> >
> > Robert makes an important distinction here; it is the "serial" nature
> > that provides the platform for the suggested trademark. Well said.
>
> Sorry for jumping into this thread so late. In Canada the author's
> *name* "L.M. Montgomery" has been trademarked, as well as the title
> of her very well-known first book: "Anne of Green Gables", by the
> Heirs of L.M. Montgomery Inc. Do these examples, established several
> years ago and vigourously protected by the trademark holders, belie
> previous comments, or is this a matter of U.S. vs Canadian trademark
> law? By the way, Montgomery died in 1942, and Anne of Green Gables
> was published first by L.C. Page, Boston in 1908.

I don't see a divergence between Canadian and U.S. law on this point. The name of an author can be used as a trademark, and can be registered as such. The title of a single book cannot. Thus L.M. MONTGOMERY could be a trademark, and so could the phrase GREEN GABLES to denote a series of books. But the individual title of only one of Ms. Montgomery's Green Gables books could not, itself, be a trademark.

> Robert C. Cumbow
> Graham & Dunn, P.C.
> 1420 Fifth Avenue, 33rd Floor
> Seattle, Washington 98101-2390
> Phone: 206-340-9619
> Fax: 206-340-9599
> E-mail: rcumbow[_at_]grahamdunn.com
> Website: http://www.grahamdunn.com/
>

		Big law firm experience
	without the big law firm experience.SM

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
This email message may be protected by the attorney/client privilege, work product doctrine or other confidentiality protection. If you believe that it has been sent to you in error, do not read it. Please reply to the sender that you have received the message in error. Then delete it. Thank you. Received on Tue May 23 2000 - 16:10:23 GMT