Teflon - A registered trademark

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Hi Guys...
I've just been hit with a trademark infrindgement letter
stating I can't use the word Teflon on my website.(Wire)
They tell me since I'm not buying from them and do not
have a license they have asked me to remove the name from my website. The wire is a good seller for me and
my prices are lower than anyone, so I'm kind of wondering
if there's any other key words or idea's on how I can promote
this without the word being used.
I've asked to get a license or if I use the word and put that
R under the name or use a phase to state that the trademark is there's but to no avail:mad: This along with the RoHs stuff
is making it very hard to stay in business...
Any Idea's
Steve @ Apex Jr.
 
Steve--

Is DuPont the manufacturer of the coating that's on your wire? If not, I can understand their position. It dilutes their trademark to have any type of polymer fluorocarbon referred to as Teflon. (see Xerox, Kleenex, etc.)

I know it's not perfect, but what about using the generic term for teflon, PTFE? And referring to it on your webside as "PTFE Silver Plated Copper Wire" instead of "Teflon Silver Plated Copper Wire". Then have the PTFE part be a symlink to Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PTFE

At least it's a start.

--Greg

EDIT: Ack...Sy beat me to it.
 
What if you described it as "PTFE Silver Plated Copper Wire" and had a note that read "Teflon(R) is Dupont's Registered Trademark for PTFE - the wire I sell does NOT use Dupont's Teflon(R)". Don't see how the lawyers could argue against that, but anyone Googling "teflon wire" should get your site.

While I sympathize to a reasonably large extent with attempts to protect intellectual property - since I sometimes create it - I also object to the imperialism of lawyers who are trying to colonize the language and fence it off from us aboriginal users :).
 
Look at the date of the original trademark and patent registration. It may have run it's course. At that point....pardon my legal ignorance..but it may be a moot issue.

Also, the generic thingie. Kleenex, ski-doo, Xerox, etc. Teflon is likely now generic. Like 'Cola'. Dupont is simply being ..uh..***.

I WANT my product to become part of the backdrop of life. It's like a licence to print money. Wait.... the Fed does that already.

Oh, yes. If you know the original maufacturer of the wire you are selling, look up if it is an actual Teflon brand based Dielectric. If it is, then you have the right to call it what it is. Then you can grab the Dupont Lawyer by his $3 tie, haul him arcoss his desk,and tell him to take a long hard suck on your backside.
 
There is an "old" search engine trick to get people searching for your competitors to see a link to your site. Lets say you are McDonalds. You put "Burger King" in the key words list on your site so that any time someone searches for "Burger King", they see your site, along with all the Burger King sites.

You can do the same with the phrase "teflon wire". Put it in the key words for your PTFE coated wire page. When someone searches for "teflon wire" they will still see your page even though the word does not appear anywhere on the visible page.

I_F
 
Doesn't work that way. I've battled (and won!) against people like Nameprotect, who search for hidden tags and words.

You CAN say, "PTFE coated wire. PTFE is better known as "Teflon" ".

With a (c) to DuPont regarding Teflon.

Double check your laws.
 
Hey, I write that stuff -- just for those beautiful moments. Glad to see I haven't lost my touch.

but I will say it is stolen without shame, from the MacLean & MacLean (brothers) Canadian comedy album, "MacLean & MacLean Suck Their Way To The Top."

Side two, of this gloriously erudite masterpiece was a different album, called "MacLean & MacLean Take the 'o' out of Country."


Not for the timid of, er, language. Foul, that is.

http://www.macleanandmaclean.com/
 
Do you really think Dupont would let the patent on Teflawn laps?? I find that unlikely.


Hmmmmm.... it really seems like their lawyers ought to have better things to do:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teflon

"The EPA's scientific advisory board found in 2005 that perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical compound used to make Teflon, is a "likely carcinogen." This finding was part of a draft report[4] that has yet to be made final. DuPont settled for $300 million in a 2004 lawsuit filed by residents near its manufacturing plant in Ohio and West Virginia based on groundwater pollution from this chemical. Currently this chemical is not regulated by the EPA.

In January 2006, DuPont, the only company that manufactures PFOA in the US, has agreed to eliminate releases of the chemical from its manufacturing plants by 2015, but did not commit to completely phasing out its use of the chemical. This agreement is said to apply to not only Teflon used in cookware but in other products such as food packaging, clothing and carpeting. DuPont also stated that it cannot produce Teflon without the use of the chemical PFOA, although it is looking for a substitute."

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Health/Nsaeha/tefloncancerrisk.htm

You'll love this one too:

http://www.2spi.com/catalog/chem/teflon_ptfe.html

Just imagine if microshaft started saying "hey.. you can't use windows...", hang on, they did try that.

Whatever, ask them if it's ok to say :

"Our wire uses PTFE, associated with Dupont's Teflon, found polluting your water supply, poisoning you through your cookware since before you were born, clothes, carpet, oceans, and generally polluting the world over through mass chemical spills with various cancer causing agents, or directly through your food supply. Why do we use it? Simply, it's the best."
 
Do you really think Dupont would let the patent on Teflawn laps?? I find that unlikely.

Not only likely, but it is true. Patents are good for a fixed term (17 or 20 years, depending on era and jurisdiction), and cannot be renewed. The trademark Teflon is a different matter. One can make a cola drink, but cannot call it "Coke" or use the "Coke" tradename to promote it.
 
classd4sure said:
They "can't" be renewed after 20? No kidding. So if you patent something you've got twenty years to make your fortune on it... or the industry can just hinder you for twenty years and then reinvent it.... Q# %(*%^!#(!@#$

Pretty much, yeah. The European system is particularly rigged against individual inventors and small companies.

But, to be fair, the scenario you outline is unlikely and rare. You've got a 20 year monopoly on your idea in exchange for revealing it.
 
I dont' know how credible it is, probably not very, but last week I was reading how once upon a time hemp was extremely wide use for all kinds of products. Dupont had a big hand in ensuring the dawn of the "war against drugs" in order to ensure it got demonized and done away with. Thereby ensuring a very wide market for all their synthetics.
 
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