Why Domain Names Are Not Generic: An Analysis of Why Domain Names Incorporating Generic Terms Are Entitled to Trademark Protection
Sarah E. Akhtar As of the date of this paper, none of the previously listed companies have attained federal registration of their service marks. According to the results of a trademark search conducted on December 17, 1999 using Thomson & Thomson, both DRUGSTORE.COM and VITAMINS.COM are the subjects of pending applications in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). PETSTORE.COM had not yet filed an application for registration. However, under new office policies, the USPTO may refuse registration to each company’s “domain name trademark” on the grounds that it is generic. While the USPTO follows traditional trademark law for determining whether any trademark can obtain...
Copyright Protection of Biotechnology Works: Into the Dustbin of History?
James G. Silva Starting in the early 1980s, and ending in the very beginning of the 1990s, a number of scholarly commentators proposed that biotechnology works are proper subject matter for copyright protection. Typically, these commentators focused on the idea that DNA sequences may be copyrightable works of authorship. Many commentators argued that copyrighting biotechnology might be a good idea because it would allow protection of works that would not qualify for patent protection. The idea of copyrighting biotechnology arose in the early 1980s at the time when patent protection of biotechnology seemed doubtful. Analogies of computer programs and DNA...