REDMOND, Wash (UPI) - Software and marketing giant Microsoft
Corporation (MSFT) announced today that it has purchased the
rights to the well-known "trademark" symbol, formerly denoted
as
"tm" in most print media.
The symbol is commonly used to identify commercial product names
that have not yet been registered with the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office.
"It was a natural," commented John Schexnader, of Microsoft's
Ministry of Information. "Several of us were sitting around after
a board meeting a few months ago, and we were talking about what
we should buy next. We were tossing around the idea of purchasing
a country or two in South America, as kind of a follow-up to Sun
Microsystems' trademark-infringement claim against The Island
Formerly Known As Java., when it occurred to us that there are no
countries named 'ActiveX.' We tossed around the idea of changing
the name of 'ActiveX' to 'Chile' or 'Brazil' - which also help
distance it from the recently-uncovered security holes - when
someone joked that we'd save a lot of time and effort in the long
run if we just trademarked the trademark symbol."
Schexnader continued, "Initially, we all laughed - but one look
at Bill's face, and we knew we'd be on the phone with the Patent
and Trademark Office in the morning."
Microsoft hasn't wasted any time enforcing the new trademark.
According to Rue B. Goldberg, an attorney with Microsoft's
Ministry of Litigation and Law Enforcement, "Use of the 'tm'
symbol will now be restricted to Microsoft and its subsidiaries,
like the Catholic Church."
But companies wishing to use the '(tm)' symbol will not be left
out in the cold; according to Goldberg, Microsoft has developed a
new symbol, '(tMS)', to replace the now-restricted '(tm)' symbol.
"Anyone will be able to use the new symbol, royalty-free,"
states
Goldberg, "though Microsoft reserves the right to charge for
its
use in the future."
Response to the announcement was varied. Apple Computer CEO Gil
Amelio vowed to take the issue to court, stating, "Apple Computer
developed the technology for the trademark symbol more than ten
years ago," but refused to give any details on the exact nature
of the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Times-Mirror Publishing, Ziff-Davis, the L.A. Times,
the N.Y. Times, CNN, the Washington Post, Newsweek, and Kathy Lee
Gifford all agreed that it was a landmark move. According to
William Spangler, Electronics and Pet Food Editor for the Boston
Globe, "[Microsoft's] recent acquisition of the trademark symbol
will benefit computer users around the globe. It's a
technological breakthrough. As always, the rest of the companies
out there are straining to play catch-up."
So, what does the future hold for Microsoft and its latest
acquisition? Microsoft Ministry of Information spokeswoman Alice
Gilbert says that Microsoft is moving quickly on similar
purchases. "Our next [acquisition] will be the 'service mark'
symbol. We already have the paperwork in place for it." Gilbert
stated that the new symbol would be 'sMS', following the trend
set by the new trademark symbol.
"It's a natural for us," concluded Gilbert. But apparently,
the
sky is not the limit at Microsoft. "We'd also looked into
acquiring the rights to the 'registered' trademark symbol, but
several representatives from the Ministry of Technology
determined that doing so would lead to an infinite loop in the
trademark registry -- and the only place where we permit infinite
loops is in our software. Our standards are very high here at
Microsoft."
But that fact has not deterred the software and marketing giant.
"Instead, we're looking into purchasing the entire Patent and
Trademark Office," stated Schexnader.
No one at the Patent and Trademark Office could be reached for
comment Tuesday.
Copyright 1997 by Vincent Sabio, HumourNet Communications Ltd.
All Rights Reserved; permission is hereby granted to forward or
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