What's In a Name?

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After five years of litigation Entrepreneur Media won a federal trademark case against Scott Smith, the owner of EntrepreneurPR. Basically, the suit charged Smith with deliberately infringing on Entrepreneur Media's "Entrepreneur" trademark and committing unfair competition. Smith is now appealing the ruling (and the subsequent $670,000 in damages Entpreneur Media was awarded).

Should we all be careful of how we use the word "entrepreneur" now? It seems absurd that any entity could stake claim to the word "entrepreneur," but with this most recent victory, it's likely Entrepreneur Media will continue to keep a sharp eye out for others using the term in a similar manner.

Smith supporter Peter Hupalo, an entrepreneur and author of Thinking Like an Entrepreneur suggests in his Smith support letter that the ruling in this case just might be setting a "dangerous precedent" by allowing larger corporations to claim something as commonplace as a word as proprietary.