Change to FIRST logo....

[Clark Gilbert]

I've had the FIRST site has my homepage for a while and recently i've noticed a change in the logo they have on the main page.



That's what it looks like now, and it used to be the same, but w/o the SM at the end. I did a little looking and the websites i found say that "SM" stands for service mark.

Supposidly, "A service mark is a name, symbol, word, or combination of two or more of these that a person displays or otherwise uses to advertise or sell services that the person performs to identify those services that the person performs and to distinguish them from services that another person performs."

Examples of service marks:

Wendy's (restaurant services)
Maxie (retail phonograph record store service)
COMPUSA (retail and wholesale computer services)

Now when i look at the examples i can't really see why FIRST would need a SM. Any ideas?

[Madison]

It's probably just to prevent future legal headaches. Usually, it takes a while for that stuff to go through, too, so it's probably in the works for awhile.

At least, that's what I've read. Though all work of that nature is inherently copyrighted and they can declare a trademark on it, going through the motions and registering it with the government provides the necessary documentation FIRST would require should they need to take legal action against someone for doing bad things with their logo.

[Rich Kressly]

Please check this thread as trademarks and service marks are very similar. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ht=tradema rk
You'd have to ask FIRST why they are choosing to use a service mark, but my guess is because what they provide is a service, not a product. Teams on the other hand do provide products - robots, animations, video, and the like. That's why we at 103 chose to go with the "TM"