Deutsche Telekom Trademarking Hotspot
from the that's-nice dept
With the growing popularity of WiFi hotspots, Deutsche Telekom has apparently seen an opportunity, and has put in a claim to the World Intellectual Property Organization for a trademark on the word "hotspot", which is the generic term most people use for any WiFi-enabled area. Meanwhile, the big Spanish telco Telefonica has put in their own trademark request for "hot spot" (that space makes all the difference). Hopefully both claims will be thrown out since there's such widespread generic use of the term already. I can just imagine all the ridiculous lawsuits that would happen if DT suddenly tried to enforce such a trademark.
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Pretty Stupid
And it's not like the trademark holders get royalties or have stopped the generic uses for "refrigerator", "kleenex", or "coke" (which can mean any type of pop in some parts of the U.S.). They may stop other companies from using it, but it won't stop the vernacular.
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