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A comment on The Oatmeal sued over trademark by ‘Oatmeal Studios’.

Re:The Oatmeal sued over trademark by ‘Oatmeal Studios’ by nobleach on Wednesday November 21, 2012 @01:29PM (#4815531)
Can one really trademark the term "oatmeal" for their own personal use?

I mean, at what point are Wilford Brimmley or The Quaker going to show up and alert you to the fact that you did NOT coin the term "oatmeal". I feel the same about Apple and other extremely generic names. You name your company something to rudimentary and generic, you waive all right to people using the name in other venues. Granted, if another computer company starts up and chooses the name "Apple"... take 'em down.

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Re:The Oatmeal sued over trademark by ‘Oatmeal Studios’ by Turing_Machine on Wednesday November 21, 2012 @02:42PM (#4815940)
"Can one really trademark the term "oatmeal" for their own personal use?"

You can, but it has to be for a specific use. Microsoft can stop you from calling your computer operating system "Windows" but they can't stop you from starting "Nobleach Storm Windows".

If I recall correctly (and this may not be the exact situation) when Apple Computer first started they had to make some sort of agreement with Apple Records (started by The Beatles) that specified that Apple Computer wouldn't go into the music business. That had to be renegotiated once the iPod came around.

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