DatagraphiX manufactured and sold computer graphics equipment that allowed users to transfer large volumes of information directly from computers to microfilm. Customers were required to keep maintenance documentation on-site for the DatagraphiX service personnel. The service manual carried this legend: “No other use, direct or indirect, of this document or of any information derived therefrom is authorized. No copies of any part of this document shall be made without written approval by DatagraphiX.” Additionally, on every page of the maintenance manual the company placed warnings that the information was proprietary and not to be duplicated. Frederick J. Lennen left DatagraphiX to start his own company that serviced DatagraphiX equipment. Can DatagraphiX prevent Lennen from using its manuals?
Q217.:
A man asked a question of the advice columnist at his local newspaper. His wife had thought of a clever name for an automobile. He wanted to know if there was any way they could own or register the name so that no one else could use it. If you were the columnist, how would you respond?
19 Thomas Kamm, “Patented Plums Give French Fruit Sleuth His Raison D’être,” The Wall Street Journal, Sep. 18, 1995, p. A1.
Q218.:
Babe Ruth was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. After Ruth’s death, his daughters registered the words “Babe Ruth” as a trademark. MacMillan, Inc., published a baseball calendar that contained three Babe Ruth photos. Ruth’s daughters did not own the specific photographs, but they objected to the use of Ruth’s likeness. As holders of the Babe Ruth trademark, do his daughters have the right to prevent others from publishing pictures of Ruth without their permission?