Registered Trademarks

[tnwalkinghorse 0]

Ok, I get an e-mail the other day from a company saying that they own the registered trademark "Wall Words".  Because I use the term "wall words" in my item descriptions on Ebay, they want me to remove it.  I did a Ebay search for "Wall Words" and came up with 4,000 + hits for these 2 words.  Are all these people illegal?  I am kinda' confused as to how much we can use the term "wall words" in our descriptions of the production we sell, because of this one companies registered trademark.  I am using the name to describe a product I am selling.  Any help would be much appreciated.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

apparently it is:

http://www.wallwords.com/termsofuse.htm

Change your description to 'words for walls' or wall phrases...something like that.

I can't believe the government would allow anyone to trademark what is a generic term. But that's out government.

[tnwalkinghorse 0]

Ok, I just did a search on the above company:

Word Mark  WALL WORDS

Goods and Services IC 016. US 002 005 022 023 029 037 038 050. G & S: Ornamental figures in the nature of letters, words and symbols composed of vinyl. FIRST USE: 19971115. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19971115

Mark Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS

Design Search Code 26.11.13 - Rectangles (exactly two rectangles); Two rectangles

26.11.21 - Rectangles that are completely or partially shaded

Serial Number 78578760

Filing Date March 2, 2005

Current Filing Basis 1A

Original Filing Basis 1A

Published for Opposition March 14, 2006

Registration Number 3100371

Registration Date June 6, 2006

Owner (REGISTRANT) Wall Words, Inc. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 426 West 6th Street Tustin CALIFORNIA 92780

Disclaimer NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "WORDS" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN

Type of Mark TRADEMARK

Register PRINCIPAL

Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

To me it looks like the LOGO is Trademarked and not the words.  I found this statement in the above:

"NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "WORDS" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN"

So to me thats saying that we can use "WORDS" as long as it is not in a logo form like shown in the following government link.  Am I correct on this?

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4007:parpp1.3.1

Banner John...thanks for your input into this frustrating topic.

[JoeDirt 5]

Its the same as "smoke" try selling that online with Tony Stewart. The word is TM.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

I think you are right...you are not attempting to infringe on their trademark and would probably win a lawsuit, However, do you have the money to fight it if they sue?

Coca Cola is a tademark,,,but anyone can use the term 'COLA to desribe what they sell.

I think these people are hurting and looking for someone to blame.

If I were you, I would let Ebay decide if you are in the wrong. The fact that they didn't follow ebay policy by reporting you and having ebay take action tells me that they KNOW they don;t have a leg to stand on. Call ebay,or email them,and ask. I don't thnk they are gonna risk losing 4000+ listings without a fight.

and re; smoke...you can't tademark a common word EXCEPT when it applies to your specific product. "Monster Cables' tried it...has anyome seen the Monster energy drinks?

and consider this:

Descriptive: If you have a popcorn company, the marketing department will probably want to name your new brand "Buttery Popcorn." But every popcorn company wants to describe its popcorn as "buttery," and the law will generally say it has the right to do so. Descriptive trademarks are hard to defend.

[ff-extreme 6]

The site says  this

If you believe that a copyright infringement has occurred on your intellectual property, we request you provide the following information to Wall Words Inc., and we will forward it to our Copyright Agent.

  (a) A detailed description of the copyrighted work that you declare has been infringed upon; and

  ( A description of where the alleged infringed material is located on this web site; and

  © A brief statement by you, that you have a good faith belief that its use is not sanctioned or authorized by the copyright owner, his agent, or the law; and

  (d) Your address, telephone number, with email address; and

  (e) The signature of the individual authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;

  (f) A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is completely accurate, and stating that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

So ask them to provide the above information to you and you will gladly change the wording in your ad.

[midwaste 4]

Descriptors are not trademarkable, and IMHO, I believe that in this case "wall" is a descriptor for words. 

http://www.bitlaw.com/source/tmep/807_18.html states: "marks comprising words plus a design are coded as mark drawing code 3" which is in contrast to "All marks consisting of words, numerals and/or diacritical symbols for which no standard character claim (see TMEP

[timbo26 0]

it looks like they are trying to copywrite WALLWORDS as a single word maybe.  not as 2 seperate words.  just keep them seperated.  i really have no idea though.

[Guest round2racing]

Wow, that's really amazing that they searched ebay and did that.

So, you can always use the following for descritions instead of wall words.

Wall Expressions

Word Expressions

Room Expressions

Wall Phrases

Room Phrases

I just searched the thesaurus for word and come up with those.....