Originally Posted by
Often1
Please read what I wrote. There is not a remote suggestion that there is any such "rule". I said that any "marginally sane legal department....." There is a distinction and I made it for a reason. These are business-to-business transactions between businesses which all are trademark holders themselves.
I mean, legal departments are really cautious, which is fine, but it is totally sane to advise United that there is no infringement if you don't use the symbols. It is black letter law that descriptive uses of trademarks are fair.
Originally Posted by
ExplorerWannabe
Not sure I understand your reasoning. I'm aware of "Fair Use" as a doctrine applying to copyrights but don't see how that applies when citing a vendor's product in a menu. In the menu, United is citing another vendor's product so I think are required to note when they are using said vendor's trademarked phrases or labels if the vendor requests it. Perhaps there's an IP attorney on this board who could clarify?
Regardless, this is a really petty matter to be griping about.
https://www.inta.org/TrademarkBasics...demarksNL.aspx
And yeah, I've litigated trademark cases. They come up in my area of practice. I have even asserted a fair use defense in them before.