Yes, it is the same here in the US.

Trademark, not patent or copyright, is the only pertinent issue in this matter.
There are two tests that a trademark must meet: 1) it cannot be 'merely
descriptive' nor deceptively mis-descriptive, and 2) it should not cause
confusion in the marketplace.

Even if they are able to persuade the Patent and Trademark Office to initially
issue a trademark for "Soaring", they could only go after people who were
letting people slide down wires to keep them from also using "Soaring" as a name
of the competing sport. And even then, Tall Timber probably could probably not
win in court because it is a weak trademark in that it is "merely descriptive or
deceptively misdescriptive".

Larry Goddard
"Zero One"



Ian Johnston wrote:

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 02:54:55 UTC, Bob Thompson
wrote:

: Tall Timber now offers an "extreme sport" of Peter Pan-like zipping down =
: through the trees hanging from a wire that they call "Soaring"... and =
: they have their lawyers "busily filing for patents and the COPYRIGHT TO =
: THE NAME of SOARING".

There's nothing in UK copyright law to stop different companies using
the same trademark for different products. Isn't it the same over
there?

Ian

--