■"W.T.O. Said to Weigh In on Product Names," by Paul Meller, New York Times, 19 November 2004, p. W1.

Interesting article on how WTO has to work through issues with companies that share very similar names but want to operate in each otherís traditional markets.

Why of interest to me?

A while back I seek trademark protection for the phrase, ìA Future Worth Creating.î

Yesterday I get a letter from a Hawaii attorney representing a Everett W. James, who markets Neuro Linguistic Programming under the trademark, ìCreating your future.î Whatís NLP? Basically subliminal therapy. The letter is your basic ìback off buddy!î

Is my phrase close enough? At least you might have an argument there, but itís a weak one, grammatically speaking.

How about the second big test for trademark protection: that I might steal some of this guyís business?

Hmmm. Letís say Iím the government of India and I want to contract Thomas Barnettís consulting company for global strategic thinking.

Oh . . . what the hell! How about some self-help tapes instead!

[cut to the PM of India lying in bed with headphones on]

ìIím big enough militarily, and Iím smart enough in information technology and . . . damn it! Great powers like me!î

Thing is, this guyís claim covers books as well. Sounds like a job for G.P. Putnam . . . and Sons!