Great research on the word "Kamado"!!

[Porkchops]

Sorry, but TNW work on the topic is too good not to post a link to it here! Very well written and researched!

Read here and decide for yourselves. Please keep comments in the spirit of the article that TNW has worked so hard to research; on the high road.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/kamadotheword/kamadotheword.htm

Well done, TNW!

[sobdk]

Great work TNW! It was really nice reading the history of the word kamado.

On a side note (IANAL) you are not required to register a trademark in the US as long it as it is used in commercial commerce, though officially registering the trademark does have some benefits. Also you can not trademark a generic term which is descriptive of the product. So from reading TNW's kamado history I don't believe anyone can register a trademark for a ceramic cooker called "kamado", but you could claim "komodo kamado" because these two words together are meaningless unless referring to the cookers that Dennis makes.

Another interesting thing about Trademarks is that you have to actively use and defend them. Remember that generic problem I just mentioned? Companies like Coke, Xerox, Kleenex, have all fought battles to ensure that these do not become generic terms for other products besides their own. Some have lost the battle including aspirin, thermos, and elevator.

Here is a link if you want to read more about trademarks:
http://www.maineandasmus.com/practice-areas/trademarks/trademk.htm

Shawn

[Curly]

It's all malarkey, RJ created the word and the kamado some 2000 years ago. Ask his wife, she was there too.

[WNTnT]

Shawn, interesting about registration not being necessary. Of course, RJ says that he registered it, which apparently isn't so. Also, interesting is the fact that the mark must have been in CONTINUOUS use. So, that would be another reason why it is probably not a valid trademark, at least anymore.

[Porkchop]

i think the bottom line is, Dennis isn't infringing on anybody's right to the term! i mostly posted this here to address allegations from other parties that the name "Komodo Kamado" adds up to "intellectual theft", which it doesn't.

[WNTnT]

I just updated the page to address the issue of unregistered trademarks. It still doesn't seem like it is a problem to use the word generically or in a trademark.

[Gerard]

You debunk one of a certain manufacturer's most precious fallacies and you're still welcome on their site?

Guess you've got the street cred to pull it off.