Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 13:39:28 -0500
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
From: Samuel Lubell <lubell at cais.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Last night's meeting
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

At 01:40 PM 2/16/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Actually, we *did* get a quorum.  And all officers were present except
>our treasurer and this year's Capclave chair.

Nope, we were missing our VP too.  Sam Pierce was away somewhere.  We did
get 29 people which seems about average.

>We even passed some new business.  After some discussion about
>upcoming Capclaves during which various people kept inadvertently
>saying "Disclave," we ruled that anyone who says "Disclave" when they
>mean "Capclave" has to pay the club fifty cents.  Five cents if they
>are working less than 15 hours a week, since several members are
>either students or between jobs.

I was guilty of this more than a few times (but only BEFORE we passed the
rule.)

>It wasn't clear, but I assume this rule applies only to the formal
>meeting itself.

I don't see how the club can regulate things outside the meeting.

>I suggested that instead of waiting for the next meeting, that I be
>told as soon as we have a signed hotel contract, since at this late
>date I'd be surprised if we aren't losing one or two potential members
>for each day that goes by without an announcement.

I'm less certain of that.  We're fine now but if we still don't have
anything in a month, I'll start to worry more.

>In writing the above, I did a Google search for Capclave.  Unlike the
>previous times I had done so, I find that there are now several sites
>which mention "capclave" which do *not* seem to be referring to our
>convention.  They all seem to be Spanish language news sites in
>Mexico.  And the word "capclave" seems to always be in the link
>syntax, not in the text.  Does anyone out there who knows Spanish want
>to take a look?  Is "Capclave" our registered trademark?  If not, could
>it become someone else's, and could we be forced to stop using it?

I don't know how trademarks work internationally.  We certainly never
trademarked Capclave.  In the U.S. someone could stop us from using it only
if they could prove they were using it before we were and there is
reasonable grounds for confusion.