[LINK] 'Yellow Pages' as a Trademark

[Richard Chirgwin]

David Lochrin wrote:
>    "The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary" fourth edition (2004) includes the following under the entry for "yellow".  QUOTE - Yellow Pages propr. (a section of) a telephone directory on yellow paper and listing business subscribers according to the goods and services they offer. - UNQUOTE
>
>    The flag "propr." indicates "proprietary status" but a note at the beginning of the dictionary states this does not carry any judgement as to legal status.
>
>    However that modern oracle Wikipedia has an entry which includes the following.
>
> QUOTE
> The name and concept of "Yellow Pages" came about in 1883, when a printer in Cheyenne, Wyoming working on a regular telephone directory ran out of white paper and used yellow paper instead. Reuben H. Donnelly later expanded on this concept in 1886 to recreate the very first official yellow pages directory. [1][2]
>
> Today, the expression "Yellow Pages" is used globally, in both English and non-English speaking countries; in the U.S. it refers to the category, while in some other countries it is a registered name and therefore a proper noun.
> UNQUOTE
>
>    Note the final paragraph.
>
>    I suppose the key question is whether Sensis have registered the term in Australia.  In any event, I like the idea of publishing their demands for all to see so they can form their own opinion.
>   
That's easy to test: a trademark search on IPAustralia.gov.au - which 
turns up several different registrations of the trade mark.

However, the existence of a trade mark doesn't automagically mean nobody 
can use the words yellow pages in succession, nor does it mean that one 
person cannot tell another person "look in the yellow pages", nor is 
there a real obligation to put a trademark symbol next to any and every 
text referring to the words yellow pages. The circumstances surrounding 
the trade mark owner's rights aren't "everything I want my rights to 
be". IANAL so I can't really "fill in the blanks" of every variant of 
trademark law ...

But my reading of the Yellow Pages letter to Roger is "bollocks".

RC
> David
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