Red Wave Radio

by **James Matthew Webe** » Fri, 08 Oct 1999 04:00:00

Quote:
>BTW, if you want you can create a web site called radioshack-sucks.com on the
>web and Tandy can't do anything about it as long as your statements are
>accurate and truthful. The EFF and ACLU have backed others with other such
>sites as AOLSUCKS.COM and dozens of others. U-HAUL tried to stop a web site
>that criticized it's business practices and the EFGA backed the site owner and
>they had a little out of court settlement which made the creator quite happy.

You need to be a little careful. For the reasons I pointed out in a
prevoius case, names like AOL and U-Haul and especially U-Haul, as
just names, are at best, very weak trademarks. U-Haul is clearly
descriptive, so it flunks. However other names exist that could be
trademark, and using one of them as a web site name probably would
infringe. For instance a web site built around a name like Pr1me or
Kodak is likely to be a problem because they do meet the name does
pass the trademark tests and almost any use of the name is likely to
be infringing, whereas the use of Radio Shack without the logo, or
U-Haul without the logo is probably not infringing since the name
itself isn't the trademark (it can't be becasue the names fails the
legal requirements for a trademark).

One of the reasons Xerox doesn't like people to use the name as verb
is that makes the name descriptive, which would cause Xerox to lose
trademark status.

by **joeo..** » Tue, 26 Oct 1999 04:00:00

>[Posted & Mailed]

>On 07 Oct 1999 01:52:57 GMT, Scanner Dweeb... the comic strip

>>Yep..... it's all true.... nothing more than a hobby......now down to just the
>>Scanner Dweeb comics.... oh well.... they are the most fun anyway.... but the
>>site was a nice to have also.... a shame Tandy is concerned about little ole'
>>me.... business must be very bad.... ?????

>You are not being very intelligent here. If you are so concerned you can call
>the whole site scanner dweeb and still have the same information on your web
>page. Tandy has no claim against any of your site content just the name of the
>site "scanshack". It is not illegal to publish anything because in America we
>have what is called freedom of speech and the press. There is nothing anyone
>can do about your publication of scanner modifications. As long as you put the
>disclaimer they are for educational purposes only.

>BTW, if you want you can create a web site called radioshack-sucks.com on the
>web and Tandy can't do anything about it as long as your statements are
>accurate and truthful. The EFF and ACLU have backed others with other such
>sites as AOLSUCKS.COM and dozens of others. U-HAUL tried to stop a web site
>that criticized it's business practices and the EFGA backed the site owner and
>they had a little out of court settlement which made the creator quite happy.

>As a matter of fact I urge you to contact the EFF at :
>http://www.eff.org and tell them our problem and send the letter
>received from Tandy.
>That is why people like myself support the EFF with our annual dues
>so that everyones free speech rights will be protected.

>--
>Best Regards,

>Keith
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>9th Circuit Judge Fletcher: Then you're not contending that the---our
> government's capacity to protect its communications is compromised.
> What you're asserting is that what's compromised is your capacity to
> eavesdrop on others.
>------------------------------------------------------------------

This would be a little drastic, but you could have your name legally
changed to, for instance, "Joe Shack". You can not be legally
prevented from using your own name in a business title, even if it is
in conflict with a copyright.

And by the way, it is true that Tandy took the large auto parts chain,
formerly known as Auto Shack to court. They are now called Auto Zone.

It is asinine that our court system would roll over, and allow
individual words in a trademark, which are in common usage in our
language, to be protected like this...especially when the business is
entirely different...such as auto parts or pizzas, or anything else
unrelated to electronics!

Red Wave Radio

Tandy/Shack Scan Shcak issue Information.

Tandy/Shack Scan Shcak issue Information.

Tandy/Shack Scan Shcak issue Information.