8/19/02 1:17:55 AM, Nelson Hochberg wrote: >Ms. Van Herk and Microchip has to be aggressive with protecting their trade >names. Otherwise the trade names could become public domain and they would >loose them. If lots of people started saying things like "Motorola makes a >great PIC" and Microchip did nothing, then the term "PIC" would become any >micro controller and not just micro controllers made by Microchip. For >example, "Aspirin" was a trademark of the Bayer Corporation. Of course >Bayer could not protect their trade name in the US during World War II since >Bayer is a German company. Yes, they're legally required to ask people using the name generically not to. However, using the name generically in comment is *not* a violation of the Lanham Act, which governs trademarks, so all they can do is ask; they have to give you notice, but the notice isn't binding on you. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu