>I probably made a few people a bit upset with all my Ex-words . . . .
Not at all; I thought it pretty clever. Anyone who gets upset by a clearly
joking list of mere Ex-words sorely misundertands the principles at issue.
No one can own a word. But organizations that use certain identifying marks
do have the right to prevent others from using confusingly similar marks in
similar circumstances.
ExI would not have any claim against someone using "Extro" in, say, a news
story about Extropianism. It would probably not have a claim against someone
naming, say, a shampoo "Extro". But it would have a claim against someone
using a similar mark to achieve similar goals--say, someone naming their
transhumanist group "Ekstro."
>How about putting ExI next to names when refering top them?
Not necessary; the marks alone should suffice. Indeed, to follow this course
of action might actually harm ExI's claims to the distinctiveness of its
marks. Thanks for trying to help, though.
Tom