I was doing a totally unrelated search of my friend Alex Bartoszewicz when I came across some medical paper some other Polish guy with the same last name had written. That guy's paper was on some Jackson Laboratory website (jax.org) that has a little registered trademark symbol after JAX, especially for something called "JAX® Mice." And I'm all wondering if our city leaders are aware of this, what we can do about it, and why it matters.
Our airport is JAX, according to Wikipedia: "(IATA: JAX, ICAO: KJAX, FAA LID: JAX)." Two out of three coding whatevers say our airport is JAX, with or without a trademark. I would argue that any mice found at the JAX airport could safely be named JAX mice, but I'm no trademark lawyer.
It makes sense to me that people from Jacksonville want a simpler name for the city. Jacksonville is really long, and we're generally lazy. Jackson is not nearly as long, and the lab employs 2100 go-getters who don't really need to be lazy with their language. It's "the world's source for more than 8,000 strains of genetically defined mice." Yep, copied and pasted that right. 8,000.
Obviously, when I started this website, I did not have mice in mind. I don't think JAX Tyre in Australia gives a kangaroo's pouch about an American trademark, either. But what of all the local businesses that use JAX in the name? Are they susceptible to court action by a research lab if it thinks the term JAX is being used in some way that isn't consistent with the trademarked name?
Just near me there's Jax Beverages, Jax Nutrition, and Jax Biker Gear. Wikipedia mentions Jax Brewery and Jax Media. Maybe they're OK because it's Jax and not JAX, even if the airport is all caps. Just to be safe, I'll stick with New Jax Witty.
JAX.com, by the way, is used by JAX Industrial Lubricants. No ® in its name.
I guess it's kind of sad that both jax.org and jax.com are taken by companies not in JAX. Perhaps the airport wasn't always called JAX. It's technically Jacksonville International Airport, or JIA, but those letters are also linked to Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.
I suppose we can't demand two companies give up their names so that all things JAX are in Jacksonville, and it really won't matter much unless the Jackson Laboratory sues our city's businesses like Jagermeister did to the Milwaukee Bucks. So I guess we all just go on with our normal daily routines, knowing there are 8,000 genetically defined mice out there working to keep us healthy.
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