Trademarks, By John D. Oathout. Charles Scribner's Sons, 597 Fifth Ave., New York, Ny 10017; 210 Pp., $20.

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Frademark law -- what little there is of it -- is the mushy stuff of which whopping attorneys' bills are made. Perhaps wisely, Oathout eschews giving legal advice on so porous a subject (for example, in the United States all you have to do to establish a trademark is use it; it does not have to be registered). But he does enumerate the various steps that are necessary or helpful to insure trademark protection. To the Ideals, Excellos, Mark I's, Handees, and their ilk on the shelves, such protection may be academic. To entities like Coca-Cola, it's much more important: Coke carries its trademarks as intangible assets worth $3 billion. Somewhere in between will fall the sometimes difficult tasks of developing a distinguished trademark or brand name, and then preventing its misuse. Trademarks conscientiously assists in both endeavors. But a casual reader might have enjoyed more case histories of trademark incursion such as the "Here's Johnny" line of portable toilets that was disallowed in court.