Lawyer Trademarks "Cyberlaw"

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday January 18, 2008 @09:31PM from the race-to-the-trademark-office dept.

BigTimOBrien writes to mention the EFF is reporting that self-proclaimed cyberlawyer, Eric Menhart, has decided to trademark use of the term "cyberlaw" and is threatening other lawyers with legal action over the term. "I wish I could say I was surprised by this one, but such overreaching invocations of IP rights are all too common -- even where, as in this case, there are no actual "rights" to speak of. But an IP lawyer should know that courts (and trademark examiners, and many tech companies that might be potential clients) don't look kindly on efforts to abuse trademark law to control everyday language. Here's hoping Menhart figures that out fast."

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Re:EFF invented "CyberLaw" by gregorio · 2008-01-19 00:28 · Score: 4, Interesting

At least, the first mention of "cyberlaw" I can find on Google Groups is this EFF newsletter from 1992-04-30
It doesn't matter. This is not a patent. Trademarks don't care about "prior art", but for registering and "continued usage" of the trademark. If the term can be proven to be generic, that can also disqualify a trademark registration. But if Donald Trump can trakemark "You're fired!" under a specific context, I'm pretty sure that "cyberlaw" can also be trademarked.