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In article <slrn8esvg9.qk9.mattdm@jadzia.bu.edu>, mattdm@mattdm.org
wrote:
> Dave Baum <dbaum@spambgoneenteract.com> wrote:
> > However, they are wary of people using (and possibly abusing) the Lego
> > brand. This is understandable...the brand has a lot of value and they
> > wouldn't want poor-quality products by third parties to in any way
> > compromise that brand. Furthermore, since the brand has such high
> > value,
> > it is perfectly reasonable for them to expect payment for use of their
> > brand (i.e. licensing fees).
>
>
> However, it seems extremely unreasonable in the case of books about a
> product. In fact, although I'm not a lawyer, this use of trademarks seems
> 100% within the precedent set for fair use: it's impossible to describe
> _without_ using the trademark.
There's tons of precedent on using trademarked names in titles of books.
I don't believe my publisher was ever seriously concerned about losing a
court case. But they didn't want to bother going to court, and there's
a lot of value in a good faith effort such as respecting their wishes
and putting an "unofficial" stamp on the book.
Bear in mind that TLC is sort of an "old" company that's just coming
into the "new" market. They're used to customers and competitors. Not
collaborators and side industries.
I'm not saying they shouldn't change...they should. However, big
companies don't turn on a dime, so I have to keep tempering my
expectations.
We have seen a lot of progress (at least in Mindstorms)....consider the
fact that they released pre-alpha firmware for RCX 2.0 along with
complete documentation of the bytecodes. That must've been a hard sell
to management.
Dave
--
reply to: dbaum at enteract dot com
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: O'Reilly book news
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| (...) However, it seems extremely unreasonable in the case of books about a product. In fact, although I'm not a lawyer, this use of trademarks seems 100% within the precedent set for fair use: it's impossible to describe _without_ using the (...) (25 years ago, 8-Apr-00, to lugnet.robotics, lugnet.dear-lego)
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