important for anybody following this topic to also know that “hundreds of trademarks” can sometimes just mean that there’s a few trademarks in each class. Trademarks in the US are divided into classes, so that two companies that do different things can still be named the same or similar.
The article still has a point, in that similar software companies like Meta and Microsoft have trademarks for “X,” but if your PVC pipe company is called X, you might not have a good case against Twitter because who is getting confused between PVC pipes and social media?
Apple tries to trademark their apple logo, not the bitten one a full apple in my country…
The Olympics did send a cease and desist to Olympic Provisions (a salami maker in Portland, Oregon). So they had to change their name to Olympia Provisions. Perhaps the Olympics felt threatened since people often confuse ‘finocchiona salami’ with ‘finishing a giant slalom’.
Doesn’t necessarily mean the Olympics were in their right.
More likely that the salami maker wanted to avoid / could not afford a legal battle.