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Alumbrado -> RE: Controversy over BDSM symbol (6/25/2008 9:33:46 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: CalifChick
I wasn't going with my personal, thought-up opinion Alumbrado. I was going with the standards of the trademark office and how they have operated for many, many years.
Do you really think you could take a well known symbol (of a tv network, of a cereal manufacturer, whatever), stick three holes in it and try to claim it as your own??
Cali
This is from the Copyright Office links repeatedly posted...
How is a copyright different from a patent or a trademark?
Copyright protects original works of authorship, while a patent protects inventions or discoveries. Ideas and discoveries are not protected by the copyright law, although the way in which they are expressed may be. A trademark protects words, phrases, symbols, or designs identifying the source of the goods or services of one party and distinguishing them from those of others.
This is from the 'Trademark office'...
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.
- A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. Throughout this booklet, the terms "trademark" and "mark" refer to both trademarks and service marks.
Do Trademarks, Copyrights and Patents protect the same things?
No. Trademarks, copyrights and patents all differ. A copyright protects an original artistic or literary work; a patent protects an invention...
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/doc/basic/trade_defin.htm
And back to the Copyright Office on what constitutes creating a copyrightable work from older material...
A "derivative work,” that is, a work that is based on (or derived from) one or more already existing works, is copyrightable if it includes what the copyright law calls an “original work of authorship.” Derivative works, also known as “new versions,” include such works as translations, musical arrangements, dramatizations, fictionalizations, art reproductions, and condensations. Any work in which the editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship is a derivative work or new version.
Examples of derivative works:
The following examples show some of the many different types of derivative works:
- Sculpture (based on a drawing)
- Drawing (based on a photograph)
- Lithograph (based on a painting)
The copyright in a derivative work covers only the additions, changes, or other new material appearing for the first time in the work. It does not extend to any preexisting material and does not imply a copyright in that material.
If Quagmyr were selling BDSM soup in cans with that triskelion on it, then the symbol would need to be a trademark.
Since he is not, it clearly falls under the copyright laws regarding visual art, and he is clearly the owner of that copyright, with the attendant rights to say who can or cannot use it.
If someone else already held the copyright to the original triskelion, then it would be a different story. Since they do not, Quagmyr's modifications represent an original work.
If Quagmyr were claiming that his copyright gave him ownership of all trikelions, he would be wrong... since there is ample evidence that he has never claimed any such thing, it is ( like the other claims of wrongdoing on his part) simply a non-issue.
Feel free to provide your links to the 'the standards of the trademark office and how they have operated for many, many years', though, if they are completely the opposite of the ones I've linked to, I would like to read them.
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