Deere and Co. has a big head

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Patents come and go over 17 years, copyrights can last 95 to 120 years - but trademarks can live forever. That's what they're protecting.

If I can find it, so could any intellectual property lawyer -- you've engaged in over 140 transactions in interstate commerce since '98 using that name. Makes no difference that you're not selling tractors -- JD has their mark on hats, boots, key chains, and even damn Christmas tree lights. Next thing some Chinese outfit starts selling green and yellow tractors with a cloven hoof running ungulate as a logo. Pretty soon there'll be an action claiming that JD has become generic and/or the mark has been abandoned.

It's not a big head that motivates them, and although they probably sound really arrogant to you; they're doing what they should have done some years ago. If JD doesn't police its mark, they could lose it -- just as FIT said about aspirin -- cellophane, thermos and shredded wheat, and even the Brooklyn Dodgers trademark have been ruled generic or abandoned by the courts. I don't think any of us would want to have Chinese tractors around that are green and yellow and bear the name of a guy born in Rutland Vermont. But that's what JD could be in for if they don't patch even the smallest crack in their wall.

If your name were John Deere, no problem; as long as you didn't use it to engage in interstate or even intrastate commerce. But since it's not, and you have - I agree with the other guys that's it's the better part of valor to retreat in the this battle. Cheap patent lawyers will cost you 200 bucks an hour. Good ones will go for 500 to 800. Federal courts move slowly, and JD has a lot more resources than any of us put together on this board. Doubt the ebay name is worth that much.

I know these kinds of things can get your blood up, and make you want to go on a kind of crusade; I've been there and done that for 8 years worth of patent fight myself. But step back for a moment and count off what you might win versus what it might cost you. Probably better to go back to JDnut or JDfan or something like that. Sorry you're going to lose all those brownie points on ebay.

Steve

• cheap harvard education on trademark law

Dwayne,

You're welcome. I guess a better and more to the point example would be Coca-Cola. Arguably the most valuable registered trademark in the world, Coke has never patented the secret formula for the syrup; because to do so would require disclosure of the ingredients, and only protect them for 17 years in any event.

Ferguson probably had more tractor patents than anyone in his time, yet JD probably makes more annual revenue from licensing fees from their mark on hats, t-shirts, etc. than old Harry Ferguson ever did from selling tractors.

If you want to be double careful for the next ebay name, you can search registerd marks free of charge as the US Patent and Trademark Office web site -- link below. You'll find that JD has 47 permutations of the name and mark design registered. Which is paltry compared to the 103 versions of Martha Stewart. Both proper names. My favorite JD mark - the 50's vintage 4 legged dear with the words "quality farm equipment" underneath is apparently dead / abandoned -- so it seems you could call yourself Quality_Farm_Equipment on ebay and get no argument from JD. Don't take that as valid legal advice, though. Even the high priced patent/trademark lawyers will give you advice which will cost you a lot of money to find out was wrong.

take care...

Steve

• PTO office to search registered trademarks

That's why companies are so protective. They want and need to keep tradenames like KLEENEX, COCA-COLA, etc. their property.

Deere & Co. has to protect a tradename they have marketed under for over one hundred and fifty years.

Just my humble opinion.

Frank-in-Tallahassee
70D // 855