Since Nick won’t put up all of my posts on the CMI thread (which I don’t save for later recall) due to their contentions about his spindoctoring, I shall continue in the same vain here:
Brian asks:
Quote:
why did you repeatedly call cmi a “federal certification mark” when it is simply “trademarked”
Nick replied: (by SELECTING a small section from and then burying a longer post of mine)
Because Certified Master Inspector is a federal “certification mark” issued by a federal government… that is what it is. See 5th bullet down: http://www.uspto.gov/faq/trademarks.jsp#_Toc275426676
From the USTO:
*"*What is a certification mark?
A certification mark is any word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination thereof owned by one party (in this case the MICB)who certifies the goods and services of others when they meet certain standards. The owner of the mark exercises control over the use of the mark; however, because the sole purpose of a certification mark is to indicate that certain standards have been met, use of the mark is by others.
Do federal regulations govern the use of the designations “TM” or “SM” or the ® symbol?
If you claim rights to use a mark, you may use the “TM” (trademark) or “SM” (service mark) designation to alert the public to your claim of ownership of the mark, regardless of whether you have filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). However, you may only use the federal registration symbol “®” after the USPTO actually registers a mark, and not while an application is pending."
To sum up:
-A certification mark is simply another case of a trademark, patent, service mark, etc.
-The use of CMI has been granted to MICB for their exclsuive use
-The federal government (USPTO) does not certify anyone as a home inspector or Certified Master Inspector for that matter!! It does not “issue” certification marks, but only protects their use by those that apply for their sole use.
-The federal governments have not verified that the association/group applying for the trade/certification/service mark has any credibility in its field of claimed expertise…they simply check to see if the required “mark/name/etc” is presently use by others or is similar to other marks/names in use or registered!!
-Nick likes to stretch the facts to make them seem what they are not…in this case, he’s splitting hairs/playing with words- and burying my posts- to try and save face. SAD!! SAD!!
There will come a day when designations will be regulated by governments and only those HI designations explicitly mentioned in the jurisdiction’s regulations will be the only ones that may be used in that jurisdiction.You may call yourself what you want but it will/may be illegal!