To the legal dopers out there:
Let’s say I have a golf business names midwest driving woods… Now, lets say I have a logo that says “MDW”
Since MDW are the call letters for Midway airport in Chicago, would I be crossing any lines by using the letters? Are those protected or am I free to use them?
This would be a trademark issue, not a copyright issue.
The abbreviations for airports are federally generated and nothing the government does is trademarked, or copyrighted for that matter.
And even if it were trademarked your golf club initials do not create confusion with an airport or any of its businesses.
So, no problem all around.
Trademark “issues” come into play when there is a chance of confusion. How many companies are “Universal” this or “AAA” that? Lots of them, right? That’s because they’re different businesses, with less chance of their being confusion.
Another issue is the uniqueness of the trademark: “CocaCola” vs. “Universal.”
So, though IANAL–though my grandfather, who largely raised me, was a patent/trademark lawyer, and we had many such discussions–I’m pretty sure your not likely to have any problems. Now, if there’s another golf business–or even another sports-related business–that uses the initials MDW, then you’d have issues.