According to National Association of Realtors attorney Laurene Janik, the
Feb. 8th trademark hearing brought before the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board
of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office took place as scheduled. The board will
produce a written decision, which could take weeks or months. Agent News will
report the decision as soon as the results are in.
The question before the board is whether the terms Realtor and Realtors are
generic or words which can be trademarked.
Should the decision go against the NAR, the words Realtor and Realtors can
no longer be used as membership or servicemarks, a form of trademark. The
Realtor block logo was not challenged, according to Janik.
See previous stories on the topic for more details.
Published: February 13, 2002
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