Antedating of "Motel"

[Ron butters]

I looked at the trademark registry and find that by 1936 the term "motel" was being used generically by the TM board. Even if he didn't register the term, he could have claimed common-law rights. And it would not have cost very much to register the term. I suspect that it became generic at once, and that they would not have let him register it had he tried.

If he did try, there should be a 1924 application in print. I don't find one, but maybe I don't know how to use the registry's search mechanism well enough to find one before the generic use in 1936.

Sent from my iPad

On Nov 27, 2011, at 12:14 PM, "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM> wrote:

> I found this. Don't know how accurate it is, but I remember having read this
> years ago about "motel" so there is at least some corroboration of memory
> (which doesn't mean much, unfortunately).
>
> Motel Inn in San Luis Obispo, California, is the world's first motel. It was
> built in 1925 by LA architect Arthur Heineman, who coined the term motel
> meaning "motor hotel." Motel Inn was originally called the Milestone Mo-Tel.
> Back then, one night stay was $1.25. Heineman couldn't afford the trademark
> registration fee, so his competitors were able to use the word "motel." The
> motel is still in operation today.
>
> It's here: http://www.oddee.com/item_96511.aspx
> DAD
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>
> It's a regular journalistic error to confuse copyright and trademark.
> Virtually every time there is a national story that involves trademarks
> or design patents, some publication will call it "copyright". Local
> stories tend to be even worse.
>
>     VS-)
>
> On 11/27/2011 9:01 AM, ronbutters at AOL.COM wrote:
>> How could a single word have been "copyrighted"? Were the IP laws
> different in 1925?
>>
>>
>>
>> On Nov 25, 2011, at 9:19 PM, "Shapiro, Fred"<fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> wrote:
>>
>>> motel (OED3 1925 Mar.)
>>>
>>> 1925 _L.A. Times_ 18 Jan. B7 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  The word
> "Motel," which has been copyrighted, means motor hotels.
>>>
>>>
>>> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org