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NAI Sending "Sniffer" C&D Letters
RayMarron writes "It seems that NAI's IP lawyers have been billing some hours recently by sending nastygrams asking companies/individuals to stop using their trademarked term 'Sniffer.' Steve Gibson of Gibson Research Corporation has received one. The full text is posted on his news server, and I'm sure one of our readers will post it here. Or visit news.grc.com, grc.news and grc.news.feedback groups. A student at Stanford received one as well and forwarded it to the faculty to handle. Both Gibson (relating a conversation with his IP attorneys) and Stanford's reply seem to agree that 'sniffer' is too generic a term to be a viable trademark and can't be effectively enforced. Is there an IP lawyer in the house?"
The terms "sniffer loop", "sniffer probe", and "sniffer coil" have been in long use in the radio service industry - they all refer to a probe used to sample the H field near a coil in an RF circuit without affecting the circuit (much...).
Google search
www.eFax.com are spammers
Sniffer was a commercial product from then Network General and came out at least by 1987. But they called it "The Sniffer" , which seems to have more of a brandname like sound to it.
And another Usenet post shows that at least as early as 1994 they were quite conscious of its growing use as a generic term and tried to deter it.
Maybe they should have been more proactive in stopping it use as a generic term, but it is a fine line to walk for companies since getting to be the "Kleenex" of your market niche makes you the defacto standard.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
June 30, 2003
Re: Infringement and Dilution of SNIFFER Trademark
Dear Mr. Gibson,
As you may be aware, Network Associates, Inc. ("Network
Associates") is a leading company in the field of computer
network management and security. One of the company's best known
brands is SNIFFER®. Through our business unit, Sniffer
Technologies, Network Associates creates and markets widely
recognized computer software and hardware for monitoring
computer networks. The company also maintains a web site to
promote these products worldwide. Network Associates owns
approximately 45 trademark registrations for the SNIFFER®
trademark around the world. Sniffer® brand products are made
only by Network Associates.
It has come to the attention of Network Associates that you are
using our trademark in association with several products such as
SPYNET. We are also concerned about the generic use of SNIFFER
throughout your company web site. As a result, your use of this
name and other product names that you advertise on your company
web site are likely to cause confusion, mistake, and deception
among the public, who are likely to believe that these products
are somehow associated with or approved by Network Associates.
In addition, the generic use of our SNIFFER® trademark
contributes to the dilution of our mark's distinctiveness. For
future reference, please note that SNIFFER® is only to be used
in association with our company's products.
You should know that Network Associates takes intellectual
property matters seriously and considers the SNIFFER® brand to
be one of its most valuable assets. While we seek an amicable
resolution to this matter, we will not hesitate to assert our
superior rights if necessary.
Accordingly, Network Associates requests that you promptly cease
all use of the name "SNIFFER," or any other name related to or
used for any products you and or your company(ies) are
associated with that are identical or confusingly similar to our
SNIFFER® trademark. This includes, but is not limited to, the
use of "Sniffer" in any meta tags, source code, key words,
domain names, glossaries, indexes and the like associated with
your web site(s).
Please confirm your intentions as soon as possible, and in no
event later than July 15, 2003. Thank you for your anticipated
cooperation.
Sincerely,
NETWORK ASSOCIATES, INC.
<<signature>>
Beverly Garrard
Worldwide Trademark Manager
Legal Affairs
FYI Network Associates and Computer Associates are different companies, no need to blame one for the faults of the other...
NAI makes security software (mainly for home users), CA makes enterprise software (which includes security but covers a lot more)
On your comment that this is asinine, I couldn't agree more. The jargon dictionary has the following entry:
sniff v.,n. 1. To watch IP packets traversing a local network. Most often in the phrase `packet sniffer', a program for doing same. 2.Synonym for poll.
Anybody here knows how to find when the entry was added?