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Intel Itanium trademark thin end of a thick wedge

Reserving trademarks could breach US law

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Some weeks ago we reported that Intel had filed a trademark under the name Itanium. (Story: Intel Itanium now part of Web cranium) But now it has come to our notice that Intel may have breached the US copyright law by "reserving" trademark names. According to US Trademark Law, reserving trademark names is strictly prohibited. Over at the old Intel Secrets site is a list of names from some years back that Intel attempted to trademark. Intel applied, on the same day, for Itanium, Septium, Heptium, Sexium, Amphion, Cognium and Centeon. Because of the re-appearance of the Itanium name, that suggests Intel was then reserving names for future products. Aside from this highly interesting possibility, the list is a cracker. There, for example, you can find the letter I, the famous trademark Intel Hotels of Distinction™, Design Mark Only™, Umatilla™, The Computer Inside™ and PC Dads™ (PC Dads? What about PC Mums?) ®

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