NATO is trademarked?!

Posts
487
Likes
1,719
I wanted to express my total surprise about my recent, apparent trademark infringement. eBay notified me that one of my listings was removed due to trademark infringement:

“NATO ® is a licensed, registered trademark of International Watchman, Inc”

I have to say I’m shocked! I cannot believe the word NATO is trademarked. I suppose I’ll have to relist as “nato-style”.
 
Posts
487
Likes
1,719
Heavily discussed here.
I’ll search it. First time I’ve become aware of it - don’t know what you don’t know. Who would’ve thought...
 
Posts
16,864
Likes
47,906
I have been taking the piss out of NATO man for a while as seen in this post here


All about ones taste 😗


Picture curiosity of https://www.fratellowatches.com/speedy-tuesday-omega-speedmaster-pro-tintin/

Can't stand it, looks like the Ratatouille Speedmaster to me. The red and white look like a tablecloth or a poker chip. Dunno just me




Can't work it out same as multicoloured NATOs

( can I write NATO or does that guy on eBay own the word NATO now or still ? ! How would you pay this guy for everytime you wrote NATO ? )

and here is a good link about it

https://www.mwrforum.net/forums/showthread.php?82014-F***-International-Watchman


And it’s only the US so being a Australian website you can say NATO as much as you want here.....
 
Posts
4,114
Likes
16,327
NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO

 
Posts
16,307
Likes
45,000
NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO NATO

That took commitment! I can only get SNORKEL out about a dozen times before my fingers hurt.

Oh- and I think I should trademark SNORKEL.
 
Posts
7,651
Likes
21,957
I’m sure those legal challenges would ultimately work if several sellers were to band together against him or if anyone of them has the wherewithal to fight to the end of the process.

but as discussed in the long MWR threads, he is smart and isn’t taking on or threatening Chanel or Omega who are also using the word.

What’s important to note though is that he only took a trademark covering the US.

Eddie Platts, the owner of Timefactors and of the forum TZ-UK is the owner of the trademark in Europe.
sellers in Europe can use it.
 
Posts
50
Likes
115
This is as stupid as and akin to Subway's (failed) attempt at trademarking "footlong". Smh. ::facepalm1::
 
Posts
5,636
Likes
5,813
I wanted to express my total surprise about my recent, apparent trademark infringement. eBay notified me that one of my listings was removed due to trademark infringement:

“NATO ® is a licensed, registered trademark of International Watchman, Inc”

I have to say I’m shocked! I cannot believe the word NATO is trademarked. I suppose I’ll have to relist as “nato-style”.

Call it what it is, a G10 strap. More accurate than "NATO" anyways.
 
Posts
824
Likes
1,399
This is as stupid as and akin to Subway's (failed) attempt at trademarking "footlong". Smh. ::facepalm1::
Ironically, Subway was sued for the “footlong” sandwiches actually being short of a foot. Subway settled cheaply but probably would have won the case.
 
Posts
247
Likes
232
I think the way the USPTO works for this stuff is they do some "light investigation" which is mostly checking the existing registrations and (today, anyway) some google searches. In the old days it was probably Lexis/Nexis. If they don't find much of anything, they grant the TM. The idea being that if they miss something because it's too obscure, a lawsuit will bring that out.
That's my guess, anyway. Because if you think NATO is bad, you should read this one:

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4803:a5o2m2.5.7
 
Posts
18,229
Likes
27,556
Well... notice that he is not suing people that can crush him on a lawsuit over the name.

he only attacks small people.