Pentium(TM) (was Re: OT: Online auctins an institution?

From: Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com>
Date: Tue Dec 22 21:52:30 1998

On Tue, 22 Dec 1998 Innfogra_at_aol.com wrote:

> Actually I believe that Intel lost their copyright on the X86s by allowing
> others to use the numbering system. In the US you have to vigorously protect
> your copyright to keep it. Intel was lax and allowed the sequence to become
> common words and numbers.

Intel did have court battles involving copyright, especially wrt
copyrightability of microcode, but *trademark* is another issue.

Some people think that you can't trademark "common words and numbers", but
you can. Think of Lotus 1-2-3 (R). You can trademark just about
anything, including the smell of your product, as long as it uniquely
identifies your product. In fact, Harley-Davidson even tried to trademark
their exhaust note.

I don't remember if Intel actually filed suit to protect "486", for
example, but they would have had to fight standard industry practice of
using similar part numbers to indicate similar functionality. Something
like "pentium" is much easier to protect, but you could probably open a
Pentium Shoe Store and be on perfectly good legal ground.

(BTW, my Dad happens to own a company named Xeon, the same name chosen by
Intel for their high-end pentiums. He also owned the domain name, but
they talked him into selling it :-)

(Also BTW, I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV. Shame on you if you
ever believe a word I say.)

-- Doug
Received on Tue Dec 22 1998 - 21:52:30 GMT