[Upd-discuss] Jewish Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame sued over trademark violation

[Jason Tanenbaum]

It has been pointed out that my previous message about trademarks runs 
contrary to the article posted by Richard Stallman about the problems of 
using the term "intellectual property."  I had sent my message before 
reading that post and I think I unintentionally added some confusion.

For the sake of clarity, the point I was trying to make is that although 
copyright, patent and trademark law clearly involves distinct legal 
questions and policy issues, there are some commonalities that Richard 
might be underestimating to the detriment of the public domain and the 
cause of free speech in general.  Specifically, I'm referring to the 
idea that control of intangible products (whether they be songs, ideas 
for inventions, or brand designations) involve the control of 
information and ideas.  To conceptually separate trademarks from 
copyright and patents, as the Supreme Court has done for a long time, 
might result in less protection for political speech that involves 
corporate logos, a problem that is increasingly relevant.

This was the extent of my point.  I generally agree with the problematic 
use of the catch-all term "intellectual property."

I'm probably missing other posts, because I get this list in digest 
form, so I apologize in advance for any more confusion I cause.

Cheers,
Jason


-- 

Jason Tanenbaum, J.D.
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political Science
University of Oregon
jtanen@uoregon.edu