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[nafex] Re: Trademarks, copyrights etc.



A trademark protects the name, not the item itself.  So someone else 
can market clones of that "Kitty" pawpaw, but better come up with a 
different name.  Perhaps "Roil Rivera".  Similarly, you can sell a 
hamburger assembled from two all beef patties, special sauce, 
lettuce, etc., but don't call it a Big Mac.

I've been curious about non-propagation agreements, which nurseries 
require be signed before shipping some varieties.  Some "Ben" series 
black currants are affected, as are the new NY plums.  I even have an 
anthurium that is covered by one, although I didn't have to sign 
anything for that.  Here's an interesting Australian site that talks 
about this kind of thing: 
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~hsca/Summ_9501.html.  Their laws are 
different, but probably operate in a similar fashion.

Bruce W. in CT  

--- In nafex@y..., "edforest2010" <edforest55@h...> wrote:
> Lets say a new pawpaw has been bred by Fred. Fred names it "Kitty" 
and 
> trademarks "it". 
> What is the "it" that he is trademarking? The fruit or the name or 
> both? Is it legal for amateurs to propagate Kitty? Is it legal to 
> propagate Kitty and sell it using a different name? (Of course I'm 
not 
> implying that to do so would be ethical).
> I recall a bit of history on a pear, I think it was Comice, back in 
> the depression I think it was, the pear industry was suffering but 
> some party, say Company A, thoought of some fancy name for Comice 
and 
> marketed it under something like "Royal Gourmet" and sold it in 
fancy 
> boxes styled for the rich and famous, well, it worked and sold very 
> well and at very high prices. No one seemed to know that it was 
just a 
> Comice. The name was trademarked, but of course we could go on 
> propagating Comice as "Comice" but not as Royal Gourmet.
> So I'm assuming that the same would apply for Fred even though he 
> spent a lot of time and effort in breeding "Kitty", if he only 
> trademarks it then it is not protected from Evil Nursery who 
> propagates it and sells it under a different name.
> Is that the way it goes? And that IS a question, I find this whole 
> business clouded in mystery with no one willing to talk about it 
for 
> fear of being sued for giving legal advice.
> Kevin B


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