marianmba-ga,
Short answer: You should be able to use that name without too much
risk of trademark problems.
Longer answer: I'm not a legal professional, and Google Answers is
not a substitute for professional legal advice (see the disclaimer on
the bottom of this page). So take everything here with the
appropriate grains of salt.
There are several reasons for my conclusion that the name is fair game:
--It is not a registered trademarked name in the US or Australian trademark systems
--The name is used by several schools in several different contexts,
making it more difficult for any one institution to lay claim to
ownerhsip of the name.
--The words are fairly common, both as individual words as well as
their use as a phrase, making it more difficult for them to obtain
status as an exclusive and trademarked name for an institution of
learning.
The Australian trademark system can be searched here:
http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/trademarks/search_index.shtml
The Australian Trade Marks Online Search System (ATMOSS)
and the only registered trademarks that come even close are these:
741583 ST PAUL'S INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
890260 International School of Wisdom
903294 MERIDIAN THE MERIDIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
940868 INTERNATIONAL ASSN OF METAPHYSICIANS AND ENERGY THERAPISTS
SIRIAN MYSTERY SCHOOL
959139 HULT INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL
994243 GC GLOBAL CITIZENS MEDAL BANKSIA PARK INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
582473 AGSM AUSTRALIAN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
856167 NATIONAL GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT 41 Registered
949749 ADELAIDE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
The US Trademark system can be searched here:
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=h1mjet.1.1
Trademark Electronic Search System(Tess)
and again, nothing really comes that close to "International Graduate
School of Business". The closest I came was:
2598017 FRANKLIN W. OLIN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
2598015 F. W. OLIN GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
2637758 MCCALLUM GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
2047435 BENTLEY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
1484679 WILLIAM E. SIMON GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
In addition, as mentioned above, there are numerous other schools that
use the same combination of words, often as a formal name for a
school, but also as an oft-repeated description. Here are a few
examples:
http://www.sbmt.bsu.by/about/contacts.htm
International Graduate School of Business and Management of Technology
of Belarusian State University
BELARUS
http://www.webber.edu/admissions/gr_rules.html
Webber International Graduate School of Business
http://mccoll.queens.edu/Faculty/Berry.htm
American International Graduate School of Business
http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901060313-1169867-2,00.html
University of Navarre's International Graduate School of Business in Spain
http://www.sbs.edu/campus/news.asp?ItemID=124&pcid=63&cid=67&archive=yes
International Graduate School of Business
Swiss Business School
http://www.dtg.org.uk/dtg/press_releases/020520_dtg_dg.pdf
International Graduate School of Business at Ecole Nationale des Pont
et Chaussees. in Paris
http://www.apmi.com.hk/university.php?university=8
International Graduate School of Business
Asia Pacific Management Institute Hong Kong
None of the above would make your choice of names immune from
complaint, largely because no such immunity ever exists -- if a group
feels their name is being infringed on (whether they have registered
it or not), they may be motivated to file a complaint with some
authority or other, or initiate a lawsuit.
By my own read of the situation, I would expect such a complaint to
have little merit and little chance of success for the name
"International Graduate School of Business".
However, you should be aware that there there are so many different
intellectual property jurisdictions around the world that what flies
in one country may be challengable in another...it's a complex world
we live in! The sad strange tale of rap star Diddy should serve as a
caution, here:
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/15497287.htm
Diddy discards his name - in BritainAssociated Press
LONDON - Sean Combs is Diddy no more - at least in Britain...The
musician and entertainment mogul has agreed to drop the Diddy name as
part of an out-of court legal settlement with London-based music
producer Richard "Diddy" Dearlove, the law firm representing Dearlove
said yesterday...Combs had agreed to "rebrand his commercial
activities" in Britain and would "no longer be able to trade in the
U.K. as 'Diddy.'
I trust this information fully answers your question. However, please
don't rate this answer until you have everything you need. If you
would like any additional information, just post a Request for
Clarification to let me know how I can assist you further, and I'm at
your service.
All the best,
pafalafa-ga |
Request for Answer Clarification by
marianmba-ga
on
16 Sep 2006 06:10 PDT
This is very helpful. Just a few more thoughts...
Since UNISA (University of Southern Australia) has programs on the
ground in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan, is it
possible to see what protection the IGSB moniker has in those
countries?
|
Clarification of Answer by
pafalafa-ga
on
16 Sep 2006 08:47 PDT
Thanks for getting back to me.
I checked a number of other sources, but did not find any indication
at all that the name in question has been registered as a trademark.
The World Intellectual Property Organization has a very extensive list
of trademarks from many countries:
http://www.wipo.int/ipdl/en/search/madrid/search-struct.jsp
World Intellectual Property Organization
...The Madrid Express database includes all international
registrations that are currently in force or have expired within the
past six months
Similarly, the European Union has a very comprehensive, searchable
system that did not show any listing for "International Graduate
School of Business" or anything similar:
http://oami.europa.eu/en/default.htm
CTM-ONLINE - Trade mark consultation service
I checked individual country trademark listings for Singapore and Hong Kong:
http://tmsearch.ipos.gov.sg/eTMSearch/eSearchOption.jsp
eTrademarks Search
http://ipsearch.ipd.gov.hk/trademark/jsp/index.html
Hong Kong - Trademarks
Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan do not have online, searchable systems
for their trademark registrations, but I would be extremely surprised
to learn that the University of Southern Australia had gone through
the very arcane registration processes in these countries, when they
have not registered the name anywhere else.
Hope that helps, and best of luck with your new program.
paf
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