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“Yellow Pages” is a registered trademark of Telstra
Posted by Shawn Callahan - 31/08/07
Filed in .
Filed in .
Just a warning to everyone out there who is using the term “Yellow Pages” to describe the people directories you might develop to implement knowledge management. Today I received this letter from Telstra's lawyers telling me that I have probably unintentionally infringed their trademark and I must remove the reference from one of our whitepapers. I will make the changes they request, as it is not a biggie, but you should be aware if you are using this terminology that you might have Telstra's lawyers knocking at your door.
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Comments
How totally idiotic. Have blogged this.
Posted by: Patrick Lambe at August 31, 2007 5:30 PM
Given that it was simply used as a generic term, I agree with Patrick. Cannot see how this damages the brand or its goodwill, quite the opposite. Total overkill on the part of Telstra.
Posted by: Robyn at August 31, 2007 10:20 PM
Bullies.
Posted by: Cory Banks at September 3, 2007 9:25 AM
Was the letter prefaced with "Not happy, Shawn !"
Posted by: Frank Connolly at September 5, 2007 8:03 PM
Thanks for this - I've linked to it from my PSL blog to remind us in the UK too.
Posted by: Ruth Pedley at September 6, 2007 12:03 AM
Well,
I'm working on a Russian "Yellow Pages", but my lawyer strongly advised me to use a different term, so I'm religated to "Russian Business Directory". BTW, people looking for those listings are still using the term "Russian Yellow Pages", and I can still see a lot of directories using it...
Regards
Yuriy
Posted by: eYarmarka.com at July 29, 2008 8:48 AM
> Given that it was simply used as a generic term, I agree with Patrick.
That's percisely the point. Once a Registered trademark enters everyday speech as a generic term, e.g. Band-Aid, Kleenex, Xerox, iPod (all Registered TMs), the owner loses some of their rights to the mark.
It all seems idiotic until you happen to own a valuable mark one day.
Posted by: Net Magellan at March 25, 2009 9:08 AM
Hello, Does this mean that my "Yellow" shirt, my "Yellow" post-it notes (sorry, slipped up there as post-it is a trade mark) cannot be used? 99.9% of these so called trade marks and copyrights are just a load of garbage. Then almost everything you write will contravene trade marks and copyright.
I do not believe that you can copyright a word or series of words, or a musical note or a series of musical notes or the whole book industry and music industry would come to a standstill.
If perchance 'you happen to own a valuable mark one day' then it should be totally unique and not something in common usage. Regards, D.
Posted by: D.O. at April 25, 2010 7:41 PM
Looked up this topic and found someone's comment on this link saying "yellow pages" is not trademarked. Scroll down to see the comment. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1928282
Posted by: JEnnifer Winland at May 15, 2010 4:39 PM
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