Arbitration & Mediation

How to Ask Someone to Stop Using Your Trade Name

By Victoria Pynchon

The intellectual property police have been out in force since the new year, protecting their rights to words like "win" and "without," as in "negotiating to win" and "mediators without borders."

I am told I can negotiate to lose or negotiate with, by or for women, but I cannot "negotiate to win," even if I add the word She in front of the transitive verb Negotiates before going on to suggest that by negotiating, "she" can win.  

And let the world be on notice, She is a word I'm gonna own, baby.

Only Mr. Thompson, I was told, has the right to annoint himself as the negotiator who wins, despite the plethora of winning negotiation books -- such as Negotiate to Win by Patrick Collin and Negotiate and Win by Dominick Misino -- and winning negotiation seminars, like the AMA's Negotiating to Win and another company's Negotiate to Win-Win (the key, apparently, in the redundancy)

I am also advised that I must eliminate posts from my blog concerning Mediators Without Borders which used to be the name of an organization of which I was a charter member (now Mediators Beyond Borders). My blog posts concerned Mediators Without Borders before another MWB told the new MWB's Board that "without" had been taken, thank you very much.

Whether any of the other "without border" groups could ask their fellow "without border" organizations to cease and desist using the word "without" between the name of a profession and the word "border" is very much up in the air. We assume there are no reported cases on the issue because those groups don't really mind that this phrase has entered the English language to signify the work of professionals who donate their time to countries with inadequate professional resources.

One assumes the French don't care what one says in the English language because they own French and are only interested in keeping words like "hot dog" out of it (see L'Académie française). It's Medecins sans Frontieries, not Doctors without Borders, merci.

If I'd used the words "Face" and "Book" in the same sentence before Mark Zuckerberg cornered the market on the words "face" and "book," would I be required to rewrite history, changing yesterday's news to recognize the subsequent rights of language captors intent on propertizing the entire English tongue (FaceTongue?)

Yes, the Color Yellow is Trademarked 

I went to a New Year's party and asked a friend who is a rockin' IP lawyer, about trademarking the word "win." In response, he regaled me with the story of his victory on Wham-O's right to corner the market on the color yellow in all of its shades, which came with an eight-figure verdict against folks who felt free to dye their slip n' slide golden rod or even khaki  (SLB Toys USA, Inc. v. Wham-O, Inc.;Wham-O, Inc. v. Manley Toys, Ltd). So I eliminated the word "win" from a seminar in Boston that was cancelled on account of snow (bad karma?)

I'm happy to find another way to say just about anything. I think I have more words at my disposal than most people, being a writer and all. But, listen up! Beginning even a potentially contentious relationship by making demands or asserting rights or dropping the name of your prestigious AmLaw100 trademark law firm in my voice mail does not incline me to cooperate.

No one wants to do anything at the point of a gun.

Someday, when "She Negotiates" is on the map, Mr. Thompson will wish that I would provide his seminar and book a little of my network's juice. And Mediators Without Borders will ask itself why I'm not increasing its traffic by using my several publishing platforms to its benefit.

Because these people are not practicing what they're preaching. They know, but momentarily forget in their zeal to protect what is theirs, that it is far easier to get me to do something I want to do than it is to force me to do something I do not.

As in "win win."

Still, I am practicing restraint in 2011, which is why I eliminated the Mediators without Borders posts from this blog without a fight.

If I hadn't made this one of several new year's resolutions, I would be far more inclined to dig in my heels and say go ahead, make my day. 

Full post as published by Settle It Now Negotiation Blog on February 03, 2011 (boomark / email).