Interesting point about Coke, but I don’t think it’s
valid to compare a generic term for a sport, such as
futsal, to a commercial product such as Coca-Cola. It
would be more appropriate to compare futsal to soccer,
basketball or baseball.

Futsal is an emerging sport in the U.S., and Alex Para
managed to bamboozle the trademark people to gain
rights to the term because the trademark people
obviously had no idea what the term meant.

It’s unethical for Para to be exerting this kind of
control over a term that is used generically
worldwide. Very self-serving and unsportsmanlike.

--- rspcoswal <scott@...> wrote:

> 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
> >
> > ADVERTISEMENT
> > var lrec_target="_top";var lrec_URL = new
> Array();lrec_URL[1] =
>
"http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12bhsu23g/M=299500.5020533.6286286.2967988/D=groups\
/S=1707208703:LREC/EXP=1094859086/A=2177425/R=0/id=flashurl/SIG=1202reaiv/*http:\
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>
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>
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> resume next plugin =
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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?
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> > To visit your group on the web, go to:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/futsal-english/
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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>
>




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