On Copyrights and Trade Marks ?

[Greg Myers]

Finally got a New Monogram Slingster kit and noticed on the top of the box several renditions of the possible BUILDS. Each one has a name; The Digger™, The Coupe™, The Streamliner™, The Blown Rail™, all rather common in the Hot Rod / racing lexicon. But after each name is the trademark symbol ™. I thought this a little strange, especially after their name change from Sizzler to Slingster™.

[Ace-Garageguy]

My understanding of copyright and trademark law is that common-use terms like "digger" and "coupe" are pretty hard to lock up as a trademark, but when put up as referring to a SPECIFIC item, i.e. a model car, it may be possible to trademark "The Coupe", "The Digger", etc. so that no other model car manufacturer may use those specific terms to refer to ANOTHER kit.

Frankly, I'm kinda surprised these terms were granted trademark status.

[sjordan2]

In many cases, it all goes back to who owns the original trademarks of the original cars, but that is usually covered by ®, which is the only true trademark protection because it means it has been officially registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office. In my experience as an advertising executive, however, TM and © don't have to be registered with the USPTO, they just indicate an unspecified intent to register the trademark at some future date, and add a certain amount of protection if a dispute arises with someone who didn't use those symbols. Anybody can use those symbols at any time.

TM, of course, stands for trademark, and ® for Registered Trademark, usually applied to a company name or product like "Exxon" and "Exxon Superflo Motor Oil," and there's a weirder one, "SM" standing for "Service Mark," usually applied to things like slogans - which can also be covered by TM. TM is usually a placeholder for early introductions by large companies during the time the Registered Trademark is pending at the USPTO.

Edited March 2, 2014 by sjordan2

[Scale-Master]

Wasn't the change from Sizzler due to the Mattlel cars?