All this musing is pretty useless without any legal training to
analyze it. Why don't you submit the trademark on THE and see if the
PTO registers it. There is a review and opposition process before any
trademark is registered. The futsal trademark survived those
processes in each of the aforementioned countries.

Take the trademark for Coke. When it was first registered it was
unique and specialized and had no general generic meaning. Today,
half the people in the South who want a soda, ask for a Coke. Go to a
fast food restaurant in Atlanta and ask for a Coke. 50% of the people
serving you will ask what kind or what flavor. It is generic for
soda, the way people in Minnesota use Pop. Same thing has happened to
the trademark Xerox.

Under the theory espoused by many people here, Coke should no longer
be trademarked because people use it to refer to sodas in general.

US Futsal holds the trademark on Futsal for a variety of categories,
including entertainment/sporting events. If you wanted to design a
wrench and call it the Futsal, I don't think the trademark covers that
category.

If you think it isn't protectable, pony up and go to the PTO and file
an opposition. Good luck with the generic claim when the word isn't
even in the English dictionary.

If anything, this whole dispute demonstrates that their is a perceived
value to the word Futsal. If it was just a meaningless descriptor, I
assume people would just call their league/game court soccer or
5-a-side or minisoccer or something like that.

And let's not forget there is a second side to this story. This
dispute generating this entire discussion could be easily resolved.
However, there is no interest on one side in resolving it.

--- In futsalonline_newsgroup@yahoogroups.com, Paul Baker
<psb7508@y...> wrote:
>
>
> From: Steve Harris <sharris1958@y...>
> Date: Tue Sep 7, 2004 9:43 am
> Subject: RE: [futsal-english] Futsal trademark
>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> And maybe one could try to claim the rights to the
> word "the"? Seems rather futile.
>
>
> --- Key <sbkey@z...> wrote:
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> It all reminds me of the time that guy tried to claim
> royalties by
> "copyrighting" the lyrics for Happy Birthday.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Harris [mailto:sharris1958@y...]
> Sent: Tuesday, 7 September 2004 7:45 AM
> To: futsal-english@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [futsal-english] Futsal trademark
>
>
> It was trademarked in Japan by Dentsu, a large
> advertising agency. When the Japan Football
> Association caught wind of this fact, it asked Dentsu
> for that trademark. Dentsu complied, so the trademark
> is now in the hands of the JFA.
>
> The legal ramifications of this are sketchy, as -- I
> think -- the courts would probably have to sort out
> any challenges about that "trademark." After all, even
> though one held the trademark to the word "soccer,"
> what would that mean? Holding the rights to the word
> "futsal" is probably no different.
>
>
>
> --- psb7508 <psb7508@y...> wrote:
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> I understand that the name Futsal is trademarked in
> Canada,
> Australia, and the UK. The trademark of the name
> allows the owner
> of the trademark to have a variety of rights. Does
> anyone know who
> has trademarked the name "futsal" in these countries
> and what the
> intentions of the owner are?
>
>
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