A federal lawsuit is underway over the trademark for the name “gaydar” which two companies are claiming as their own:
“A British company — Qsoft Consulting Limited, based in Twickenham, Middlesex — is claiming it owns the name as part of its gay and lesbian dating Web sites and online digital radio service. The company, founded in 1997, claims in the lawsuit filed last week to have registered Internet domain names with “gaydar” as far back as 1999 and registered GAYDAR as a trademark in the European Community in 2003. In November, the lawsuit alleges, a rival company operated by Teddy Tong, called TDTong Ltd. in Princeton, N.J., and San Francisco, began using similar Internet domain names for rival gay and lesbian Web sites.”
Copyright lawyers say it may be a tough case: “a centerpiece of trademark law is to help prevent consumer confusion, but that cuts both ways if the company picks too generic a term. The court's test has been that the closer something is to a generic description of the product or service, the weaker the claim.”
