Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Title: "There is always a well-known solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong

Ah yes trademark law - something that would make the average sane person to have to prop their eyelids open with toothpicks to keep from going to sleep from boredom.

An interesting example is "Xerox." Xerox (TM) is a trademark name of the Xerox Corp. They are literally scared "s**tless that by the use of xerox as a verb in the common language that the courts will declare the word has entered the "public domain." How often have you heard "xerox this for me" to mean "copy this for me." That common use vsn establishe "xerox" as a common use as a verb and could mean it is enter public domain.

Endurance is most likely not trademarkable or copyrightable - however one could have filed a copyright on "endurance riding" or "endurance ride." No one did that and as they say the horse is already out of the barn.

I suggest that we just get over it. It is what it is and it will be what it will be. Trying to stop the evolution of time or language is like going up to a dike with 10 fingers and 10 toes and trying to stop 25 holes. You just get wet and muddy and eventually drown if you don't get out of the way.

Truman

Sisu West Ranch wrote:

"...scotch
tape, aspirin, etc...."

While Bayer did indeed lose the brand name aspirin, dear old 3M Company very carefully defends the Scotch(TM) brand name for its line of pressure sensitive adhesive coated tapes and other products.  Corporations often spend many millions of dollars to establish a brand and they and their lawyers get quite testy when they are improperly used.

Unfortunately, like the common usage of  "The last best place.", to refer to the glories of Montana, the AERC never established "Endurance" as a trade name (service mark?) for its brand of distance horse riding competition.  We will just have to put up with what we consider to be misuse of this word.

Ed

Ed & Wendy Hauser
2994 Mittower Road
Victor, MT 59875

(406) 381-5527

ranch(at)sisuwest(dot)us


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"There is always a well-known solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong." H. L. Mencken