Possible future legal problems with "SOARING"

I tried to post this on the RAS earlier, but haven't seen it pop up, so =
thought I'd give it a 2nd try:

A feature article in the Durango Herald newspaper (Durango, Colorado) =
this morning (9/24/04) about a very pricey 5 star resort north of town, =
Tall Timber, really caught my attention: =20

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". This is a VERY exclusive resort, dealing mostly =
with millionaires and billionaires. The place is SO exclusive, there =
are not even any roads to it. Access is mostly by helicopter.... =
usually taking off from right next to the client's private jets at the =
Durango airport. With clientele like theirs I'd expect they have =
equally pricey and effective lawyers. =20

If they get this copyright our sport, the name of the SSA, SOARING =
magazine, the name of the ASA, the name of Turf Soaring, Arizona =
Soaring, Cumulus Soaring, Honolulu Soaring, Knauff and Grove Soaring, =
etc. may well have to be liscensed from these folks in the future. =
Lawsuites concerning "copyrighted names" are becoming very commomnplace =
these days.
=20
I'd say this is something that the SSA leadership, and perhaps a batch =
of "soaring" lawyer pilots would want to look into pronto. Better to =
become aware of something during the process of formulation than after =
the fact.

see the folowing url: =
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin...ticle_type=3D=
out&article_path=3D/outdoors/out040924.htm

Bob Thompson
19

it's here.. I saw it.. one line above this one
BT

"Bob Thompson" wrote in message
...
I tried to post this on the RAS earlier, but haven't seen it pop up, so =
thought I'd give it a 2nd try:

A feature article in the Durango Herald newspaper (Durango, Colorado) =
this morning (9/24/04) about a very pricey 5 star resort north of town, =
Tall Timber, really caught my attention: =20

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". This is a VERY exclusive resort, dealing mostly =
with millionaires and billionaires. The place is SO exclusive, there =
are not even any roads to it. Access is mostly by helicopter.... =
usually taking off from right next to the client's private jets at the =
Durango airport. With clientele like theirs I'd expect they have =
equally pricey and effective lawyers. =20

If they get this copyright our sport, the name of the SSA, SOARING =
magazine, the name of the ASA, the name of Turf Soaring, Arizona =
Soaring, Cumulus Soaring, Honolulu Soaring, Knauff and Grove Soaring, =
etc. may well have to be liscensed from these folks in the future. =
Lawsuites concerning "copyrighted names" are becoming very commomnplace =
these days.
=20
I'd say this is something that the SSA leadership, and perhaps a batch =
of "soaring" lawyer pilots would want to look into pronto. Better to =
become aware of something during the process of formulation than after =
the fact.

see the folowing url: =

http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin...ticle_type=3D=
out&article_path=3D/outdoors/out040924.htm

Bob Thompson
19

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

--

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

--