- Can Visa sue governments for issuing permission to enter nations, using their trademarked name for the permission document?
- Can Microsoft legally restrict use of the word windows when used to see out of buildings and vehicles, or the word win when used to indicate the victor in a conflict, like a ball game?
- Can Apple Computer Company restrict use of the word apple for fruit?
- What's the difference between these examples and precedents from the court case cited below?
Well any organization can bring lawsuit. The importance is in what court cases rule which way, and legislatures changing the rules for the lawsuits. After all, in a government of the lawyers, by the lawyers, for the lawyers, what is most important (for gov.law) is in providing lots of opportunities to keep their lawyer constituents gainfully employed, doing interesting work. Currently the ultimate arbiter of law in USA is the Supreme Court, but when in international affairs there are different final decisions by US Supremes & their opposite numbers in other nations, I could see some things being taken to an expanded World Court.
I have chopped some examples out of this repost below, so as to focus on the essence of the news.
[Boing Boing Blog] QUOTE
Visa claims to own dictionary definition of "visa". eVisa.com -- a site that hosts travel info and info on getting travel visas for various countries -- has had its domain name taken away by a court at the behest of Visa, the credit-card company.
This is fallout from the recent changes in trademark law, which created a new, ridiculous dilution standard that allows companies that own extremely famous marks built on regular, English words, to stop others from using that mark in any other context.
Visa claims that the fame of Visa, the credit card, has so outstripped the fame of "visa," the English word, that anyone who names a company or product "visa" (even, presumably, a book called "How to Get an American H1B Work-Visa") is ripping off their intellectual property.
This is a stunningly bad law, and the lawmakers who wrote it need to be thoroughly spanked, but what's worse are the thieves at Visa who've decided that the anti-dilution standard is ready-made for expropriating small businesses of their domain-names. Link Discuss UNQUOTE [Boing Boing Blog]
2:42:51 PM 
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