See? That's how well these companies did with their marketing. It was such a successful campaign that you, who I'll presume is an intelligent human being, see it as silly legal issue. Frankly speaking? No. There really isn't another way for businesses to handle it. You're talking about legal issues, and the way to resolve legal issues is through legal means.
It seems silly now, but to many of these companies, it's the way for them to be unique, to stand out among the crowd. Because they came up with the word 'realtor' and 'entreprenur' to describe themselves, not to describe others. And, rightly or wrongly in this case, the government said that the words they use to describe themselves was so unique that it was worth it to legally make it theirs.
(And all the past successes of these names being turned into generic terms (Kleenex, Xerox, Aspirin) is the other reason why these companies are fighting tooth and nail to make sure it doesn't happen to them. The government has basically stated that it's a use it or lose it situation. And they are determined not to lose it. Whether or not that's a good thing....)
It seems silly now, but to many of these companies, it's the way for them to be unique, to stand out among the crowd. Because they came up with the word 'realtor' and 'entreprenur' to describe themselves, not to describe others. And, rightly or wrongly in this case, the government said that the words they use to describe themselves was so unique that it was worth it to legally make it theirs.
(And all the past successes of these names being turned into generic terms (Kleenex, Xerox, Aspirin) is the other reason why these companies are fighting tooth and nail to make sure it doesn't happen to them. The government has basically stated that it's a use it or lose it situation. And they are determined not to lose it. Whether or not that's a good thing....)