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Subject: 
Re: 20 Years of TLC's Frustration with "LEGOS"
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Fri, 30 Mar 2001 00:05:53 GMT
Viewed: 
2649 times
  
"Bryan Beckwith" <bbbeckwi@mail.SPAMBLOCKuccs.edu> writes:
I thought the point wasn't to stop other brands from being called LEGOS, but
to keep LEGO bricks from simply being called LEGOS.  This makes sense for a
company that wishes to be known for more than building blocks.  TLC never
intended for their company name to become the name of their toy.  Your Ford
example doesn't really work.  A better example would be Whammo asking people
to call their plastic hoops Hula Hoops rather than Whammos.  (Not that
anyone calls them Whammos, but you get the idea.  It would be hard for your
company to release new/different products if it were only known for a single
product or line of products.)

In general, trademarks are adjectives.  If you use a trademark as a
noun, you dilute the trademark.  That's the general rule.  That's why
you always see something like "Chee-Toh(R) Brand Cheese Flavored
Snack" rather than "Chee-Tohs".  Same goes for "LEGO(R) Bricks or
Toys" rather than "LEGOS".  Also, by adding the "s" it is no longer
the same thing, and the trademark protection may not apply.

--BIll.

--
William R Ward        hermit@bayview.com      http://www.bayview.com/~hermit/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others."-Groucho Marx



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: 20 Years of TLC's Frustration with "LEGOS"
 
I thought the point wasn't to stop other brands from being called LEGOS, but to keep LEGO bricks from simply being called LEGOS. This makes sense for a company that wishes to be known for more than building blocks. TLC never intended for their (...) (23 years ago, 29-Mar-01, to lugnet.general)

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