> Realtor is a frequently-used word in many countries to describe any person or company involved in the real estate trade, regardless of their NAR status or American residence. However, in the United States, the National Association of Realtors in 1949 and 1950 obtained registrations for the words "Realtor" and "Realtors" as collective trade marks.

> In 2003, Jacob Joseph Zimmerman, a real estate agent who was not a member of NAR, petitioned the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the trademarks, on the ground that "Realtor" and "Realtors" were generic terms rather than a trademark. On March 31, 2004, the USPTO's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board denied the petition.

"The courts read any failure to protect your trademark as good reason for the courts to not help you protect it later when you find the infringement significant. As the trademark attorney in the clip noted, Elevator, Thermos, Aspirin, and Trampoline all lost their rights to their trademarks, because they didn't "police" their trademarks."

From: http://stosselintheclassroom.org/video_activityMar08.html

(Important for startups:

http://blog.startupipservices.com/archives/top-startup-trade...

I'm sure you knew already, but it doesn't hurt to reinforce the importance of trademarks.)

Edit: dotBen made a similar point further down the thread

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2578717

So what is the downside in this scenario? How is Bayer hurt by not owning an Aspirin trademark any longer?

The answer is Kleenex. Now try to tell someone in a general conversation that you when you're talking about Kleenex, you meant 1) the actual company Kleenex, not the 2) product nor the 3) other generic tissue paper products. Because now you have to explain to consumers why your Kleenex is better than your competitors Kleenex, when before you could just say 'Kleenex, the brand that works' or 'Kleenex, the brand you trust' or just plain 'Kleenex'. Even if it's just a name, if you reduce the number of ways for you to differentiate your product from others, it just makes it harder to do so.

It seems silly now, but to many of these companies, it's the way for them to be unique, to stand out among the crowd. Because they came up with the word 'realtor' and 'entreprenur' to describe themselves, not to describe others. And, rightly or wrongly in this case, the government said that the words they use to describe themselves was so unique that it was worth it to legally make it theirs.

(And all the past successes of these names being turned into generic terms (Kleenex, Xerox, Aspirin) is the other reason why these companies are fighting tooth and nail to make sure it doesn't happen to them. The government has basically stated that it's a use it or lose it situation. And they are determined not to lose it. Whether or not that's a good thing....)

I think the only times I've ever said "realtor" has been when it was informal. Having researched the NAR, MLS, etc. before selling my house, it seemed fairly obvious that realtor was a trade name and something I just assumed was trademarked.

This is why it's ok to use the word "entrepreneur" in general, but not as the name of a magazine or "communication product".

Microsoft owns the trademark for "Windows", but walk into a hardware store and you'll see dozens of companies that freely use windows in their name. I've never heard of Microsoft going after them.

Here's an example: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Microsoft_vs....

Entrepreneur, Apple and Windows aren't distinctive in their own rights (the logos might be, however), but some names certainly are.

http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/notices/international.jsp

So, you can have a "Widgets" trademark for class 9 (Electrical and scientific apparatus), and another company can own the "Widgets" trademark for class 29 (Toys and sporting goods).

Some companies do register their trademark across the whole spectrum, like Coca-Cola, and probably Nike too.

Note that pharmaceuticals are a whole different story, as there are so many of them that you can have similar-sounding ones as long as they do something very different.