Letters
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 19, 1998 9:00 p.m.
Wednesday, May 20, 1998
Letters
The legal
low-down
Thumbs down to the editorial board for misunderstanding and
misrepresenting the law in "Foresight for web copyright" (May 19).
First, one cannot copyright a name like UCLA. Names can be
trademarked; they can’t be copyrighted. Blaming UCLA for "not …
copyrighting its name on the Internet" is an error. Second, UCLA
has long had a trademark in its name. Legally, this means that no
one else may use the name commercially in a way that’s likely to
confuse consumers or dilute UCLA’s trademark. The people who put up
the http://www.ucla.com web site have no right to misuse UCLA’s
trademark this way, even if they did register their site first.
They are violating trademark law and UCLA is both legally and
ethically justified in trying to stop them.
P.S. To the editorial board: One of the advantages of being at a
top research university is that you have access to experts in a
large variety of fields. Why not use them? If you’d called any law
professor who specializes in intellectual property law, he’d have
been happy to give you the legal low-down.
Eugene Volokh
Acting professor
UCLA Law School
