Kleenex, Xerox, Gaydar?

England-based Qsoft Consulting, owner of the gay dating site MyGaydar.com, has filed a trademark infringement suit in Delaware, claiming they own the word “gaydar” after another company began using a similar domain name for their own gay and lesbian dating site. Qsoft’s suit also contends that TDTong Ltd. violated the “Can Spam Act” by sending unsolicted messages to users of Gaydar.com’s chat rooms.

This is sort of a reverse on the situation faced by products such as Kleenex or Xerox, who famously fought (some would say unsuccessfully) to keep their brand names from becoming generic terms for all similar products. Trademark lawyers say Qsoft will have a difficult time proving their case, saying “gaydar” is already a generic term.
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