Posted by annemarie (212.238.33.13) on August 14, 2000 at 15:25:53:
In Reply to: Just thinking out load posted by BobG on August 14, 2000 at 03:33:30:
Guys, you can't. Copyright and Trade Mark registration are a wholly different kettle of fish from registering and owning Internet domain names. That's pretty straightforward. First come, first serve.
Very roughly, you might be able to register a word or phrase as a trade mark for, let's say for OUCH. There are requirements, and do's and dont's, but let's say you succceed.
That's nice. But if a frozen fish firm wanted to use the sentence they probably could, because cluster headaches are not fish...
Copyright? The sentence is so ordinary and used by so many people, that it would be nigh to impossible to register it under copyright laws.
Copyright - shortly said - protects a body of work that hangs together. Usually larger text, sometimes indeed a slogan, but always in a certain context.
Just think, if they let you copyright that simple phrase, technically nobody could use that phrase any more, on pains of a court case.
Every new arrival on the MB who said it from the bottom of their heart, would be contravening the OUCH copyright.
On the other hand, since this is so, there is NOTHING against using the phrase as a hook. As a book title. As the title for a brochure.
Even if somebody else had published a book or a brochure or an article, or whatever with the same title, they would not be able to sue CH-ers, because their book or brochure would necessarily be about something totally different.
Let's not make easy things more difficult. Patent attorney's cost a lot of money too - it is a very specialized job.
Walk in beauty, annemarie