The E-Club Review The Journal of The MIT Entrepreneurs Club aka: "The E-Club" Edition of Friday, 25 February, 1994 Vol. 001.002 Table of Contents: Counselor's Column: On Trademarks, J. Hadzima '73; Editor's Column: E-Club Courses at MIT for Kids, R. Shyduroff; BCS'InternetSIG, Director's Note: K-12 Networking Meeting, M. Barrow; Notes on The Review: Front matter moved to end, please read; * * * Counselor's Column: "Of Kleenex and Cheez Whiz: Trademarks are nothing to sneeze at" by Joe Hadzima '73, reprinted from his column _Starting Up_, which appears in The Boston Business Journal (first of two parts) My 10-year-old daughter Elizabeth knows that I write this column. The other day she said to me, "Dad, I really enjoyed your Cheez Whiz article." I had no idea what she was talking about. Several times during the evening she again mentioned my article on Cheez Whiz. At bedtime I found the "article" she had written about Cheez Whiz, under my name. We had a good laugh, but I got to thinking about Cheez Whiz. It evokes a clear message (for better or worse) about a particular product. In law it's what we call a trademark, one of the categories of "intellectual property." Intellectual property assets have become very valuable and important in all businesses. Every week I get questions from clients who recognise the general importance of IP assets, but have only a vague idea about what's involved. This series on trademarks and patents will attempt to clear up the issues. Trademarks and Servicemarks: The major purpose of trademark law is to prevent confusion among consumers as to the source of goods or services. A trademark may consist of a name, a phrase or a symbol. Even colors have been held to be entitled to trademark protection under special circumstances. A person who has rights in a mark may exclude others from using the same or a similar mark in connection with goods or services, in circumstances that may result in confusion by consumers. When you are naming a product you should try to come up with a unique name. Depending on the "strength" of the mark, the breadth of the class of goods or services to which the trademark right pertains may be greater or smaller. If your mark is fanciful and contrived, such as "Exxon" or "Kodak" it is highly unlikely that someone else is using it. You also will have a stronger case against someone who later uses a similar mark to trade on (or "dilute") the reputation of your products. Further, it's easier to expand the zone of protection for a fanciful mark beyond the initial product on which it is used. For example, Kodak would have a good case against someone who opens a chain of "Kodak" drugstores. Conversely, a "weak" mark such as "Supreme" might not be afforded trademark protection beyond the products or services on which it is used. A name that is " merely descriptive" won't be entitled to trademark pro- tection unless you can show that over time the mark has acquired "secondary meaning," that is, customers actually associate the mark with your goods. You can search the Trademarkscan database on the Dialog online information service to see if the mark you have chosen is already registered in the Patent and Trademark Office. Once established, a trademark must be "policed" to maintain rights. If you allow your mark to become synonymous with others' goods and services you run the risk that your trademark rights will be lost because the name may be deemed to have become "generic" and, thereby no longer identifies a source, but a good or service available from several sources. Trademark and service mark protection are available under both federal and state law. You don't need to register a mark in order to obtain the basic rights afforded under state law. Rights in a mark arise upon its use in commerce in connection with a particular good or service. Registration of a mark is required, however, to obtain protection throughout the U.S. Generally, state protection is limited to the geographic area in which the mark is used; federal protection extends the owner's rights nationally, including to geographic areas in which the mark (or a very similar one) is onot already in use. In addition, since 1989, it's been possible to obtain federal registration of a mark under an "intent to use" registration without actually using the mark in commerce prior to applying for registration. Federal registration filing fees are currently $245 per mark per class of registration. Registration typically takes three to six months if no opposition or problems are encountered. If you haven't registered a mark federally, you should place the symbols "TM" and "SM" next to the mark in advertisements, etc., to indicate that you claim rights in the trademark or servicemark involved. Federally registered marks ought ought to be identified by the (R) symbol. If you refer to a trademark belonging to someone else in an advertisement or for some other purpose, you should indicate clearly that the mark is owned by the other person. For example, "Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc." Although there are international trademark treaties, you need to be very careful about protecting your trademark rights in other countries. For example, sending a software product to a reseller in another country may result in that reseller becoming the owner of your mark in that country. A practical tip: Many start-up entrepreneurs ask me to "protect the name of our corporation in all of the states." It can be very expensive to reserve and protect a corporatename on a state-by-state basis. Instead, consider registering a trademark for your products. You can change the corporate name later without losing the value of the trademark for the product. Do you know who owns the Cheez Whiz mark? Kraft General Foods, Inc. So how did you like my Cheez Whiz article, Elizabeth? (next time: _Patents_) Joseph Hadzima '73, is a partner in the Boston corporate law firm of Sullivan & Worcester, where he heads the High Technology/New Ventures Group. Joe is legal counsel to The MIT Enterprise Forum, The MIT Entrepreneurs Club, aka: "The E-Club" and the annual $10K MIT Student Entrepreneurial Competition. Joe may be reached at Sullivan & Worcester at 338-2866 and by e-mail at * * * Editor's Column: _MIT E-Club Courses & Seminars: for Middle-to-High-School Students_ (offered through the mit educational studies program's (the esp) high school studies program (the hssp); ten saturday sessions at mit, from the first week of march to the first week of may. all courses free. registration $25. the course described here was fully subscribed in the first hour of our own "reg-day" this past saturday. i'm writing this piece to give readers of the _review_ an idea of some of the e-club's range of educational activities and to invite those who are working on relevant and appropriate projects to drop by any or all of the sessions this spring to share their ideas and work with students in this course. see details at the end of the column. thanks! - richard) - richard shyduroff writing here as teacher and seminar director the mit educational studies program While it is generally known that The E-Club offers a variety of opportunities for new idea presenters to meet to get feedback on their new technology-based start-up ideas and ongoing projects, not many know of the year-'round series of courses and seminars we have designed and offer especially for kids, from k-12. This series includes a version of my undergraduate seminar on new- technology-based entrepreneurship at mit, scaled for 7th to 12th graders. It meets on ten-consecutive-Saturdays from 10am to 5:30pm starting next Saturday at MIT. The material covered ranges from "about ideas, and where they come from" to "start-up thinking" and the practical, hands-on work that must be done to materialise a new technology product or service. Topics include history of science-and-technology-based businesses, with an emphasis on MIT spin-offs and the students, profs and alum behind the ideas and companies, and invites selected MIT students, profs and alum to visit the seminar, to discuss and demo their work. The course is based on three years during which i've been working with high school kids at MIT in this field, and draws upon ideas the class generates from discussions in-class beginning at 10am on the (unlikely-for-a-weekend) topic of "Schools of the Future", followed by a 1:30-3:30 session on "Technology Risks" which provides more fodder-for-thought about how to create better products and services while thinking about why so many existing technologies are simply not-right-yet, or need to be replaced with comletely new and different solutions, especially human-computer systems. Significant discussion centers on electronic privacy and the future of world-citizens' potential loss of freedoms of many different kinds. The final session of the day focusses on creating new tech-based businesses, and attempts to bring the idea of new enterprises around to new educational ideas and the design of learning environments, real and virtual, for kids interested in the future of schooling, locally and globally, and how such schools might become self-sufficient by generating educational materials and by providing support via fee-and-services-based consulting to a wide range of clients of all ages. These three topics are woven throughout the day every Saturday, and as a result one of the pre-requisites for participation is that kids have to agree up-front to register for all three courses, and immerse themselves in the activity. Traditionally, they do. One of the required readings is _Jurrasic Park_ (the movie doesn't count), and at the other end of the list is everything of relevance to discover while roaming The Internet: students have Athena accounts created for them to use to learn about telecomm, e-mail, MIT-based conferencing, Usenet Newsgroups, telnet and ftp, and collaborative research and writing tools, including the MediaMOO (the virtual version of the MIT Media Lab) and of course, the instantly useful and fun-to-use Mosaic electronic net navigation, information retrieval and publishing environment. As time and interest allow, participants may also automagically become nominally proficient users in Athena's X-Windows environment, quickly learning to do several things at once ... even to the extent that some, within a couple of hours, find themselves "tutoring" others on Athena from other of the HSSP courses who are logged in at other locations on campus ... and will carry on discussions and "test markets" for new ideas that suddenly come up within a potentially global group. This is always a great phenomenon to watch develop over the first day of classes. It provides students with an immediate boost in their technological and communications-ability self-esteem, and they soon realise they can easily take part in many multipath research projects of their own design and at their own pace. The scheme this spring: MIT students, professors, staff and alum are invited to drop-by and sit-in on any and all of the morning sessions of any and all of the Saturdays coming up on the topic of "Schools of the Future" from 10am to noon, to help add to discussions and to talk about their relevant research projects and experiences in k-12 real, or virtual, traditional educational or electronic learning environments. The core group of registered students however shall have the floor and are free to learn to moderate the morning seminar to keep it on track, and productive. Morning input is discussed later in the day. Send me e-mail and I'll quickly reply on where sessions are being held (some sessions require different rooms), after we talk about your interest. The afternoon sessions are open only to a very limited number of MIT observers and guest seminar leaders due to the intensive nature of the students' work in the Athena environment. Additional afternoon session visitors should send me e-mail to start a discussion of their topics and demos at least a week in advance of their proposed appearance. E-mail is the required means of communication for this project, with me, the t.a.'s, guest seminar leaders and all students. No replies will be sent to anonymous or otherwise-blind queries. Thanks for your interest and possible participation! - richard shyduroff * * * (editor's note: due to the growing interest in networking via the internet, and the range of opportunities for profit and non-profit new educational enterprises thereby, the e-club will meet on 8 march at mike barrow's meeting beginning at 6:30pm at e51-329 (sloan school); for e-club members and associates and students in my seminar who are interested in hearing more about k-12 and community networking, this will be the place to meet. think of it as a field trip. - rds) BCS Internet SIG, Director's Note: K-12 Networking Meeting, Mike Barrow Date: Mon, 28 Feb 1994 00:28:14 -0500 From: mlbarrow@MIT.EDU (Michael L. Barrow) Subject: BCS Internet SIG March Meeting: Linking K12s and communities... Last year's meeting was such a success, we've decided to do it again! Leaders in primary and secondary school networking will present the latest developments in the field. In addition, we'll discuss several important community networking projects underway. Presenters include MCET, BBN Educational Technologies Divsion, and the Metro Boston CWEIS. I guarantee that this is not an event to be missed! The BCS Internet SIG's 2nd Annual K-12 Networking Meeting Day & Date: Tuesday, March 8 1994 Time: 6:30pm: Beginner's clinic 7:00pm: Main topic Access: MBTA, Wheelchair, Free parking More info: mlbarrow@mit.edu or (617) 253-7664 or (617) 258-8736, fax Location: MIT E51-329 Directions: From Memorial Drive Eastbound (toward Science Museum): Take the underpass under Mass Avenue. Take first left off Memorial Drive after underpass. This is Wadsworth Street. Watch for Kendall Square --> sign. Drive across Memorial Drive. E51 is on the left hand corner of Memorial Drive and Wadsworth Street. E40 is one block further on the corner of Amherst and Wadsworth Streets. From Downtown Boston: Take Longfellow Bridge (Salt & Pepper Bridge) to Kendall Square. Continue on Broadway. Take first possible left onto Ames Street. On Ames, take a left onto Main street and continue to corner of Hayward. Au Bon Pain is on the corner. Make a right and continue to corner of Amherst. Turn left on Amherst. E51 is the right corner of Amherst and Wadsworth. E40 is on the left corner of Amherst and Wadsworth. From 'T': Take the Red Line to Kendall Square stop. From the T head over toward Au Bon Pain, take right onto Wadsworth St. Turn left on Amherst. E51 is the right corner of Amherst and Wadsworth. E40 is on the left corner of Amherst and Wadsworth. -- Michael L. Barrow Network Analyst/Resnet Support Coordinator MIT Distributed Computing and Network Services Director, Boston Computer Society Internet SIG * * * _The E-Club Review_ ... ... published electronically on most weekends, including a comprehensive quarterly issue expanding on the best of the contents of the weeklies, at the massachvsetts institvte of technology, at cambridge, massachusetts; primarily an electronic journal, future plans include versions in hard-copy plus accompanying video and cd-rom tutorials, for a fee. details ahead ... Contents copyright (c) 1994 by The MIT Entrepreneurs Club, aka: "The E-Club", The Massachvsetts Institvte of Technology, and by individual authors, as noted herein, 1993 and 1994. 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