Come across something that sems to be strange to be able to trademark or copyright? Post it here. Lets see how weird things get.
I was just looking at the box my earplugs came in, and one of the things listed as a licenced trademark for the company is "the color yellow for earplugs" No one else can make an earplug that is yellow???????????????
Another older item, a few years ago a company in Michigan i think it was was claiming ownership of the word ring, and claimed that using the term webring was a viloation of their rights. (they lost, but geesh)
What have you seem that seems stupid?
-Greg
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Busy posted this at 21:18 — 23rd August 2006.
He has: 6,157 posts
Joined: May 2001
wasn't the http an issue not that long ago?
the happy birthday song, although they ended up giving away the rights to it
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"); } ?>
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demonhale posted this at 00:57 — 24th August 2006.
He has: 3,301 posts
Joined: May 2005
the most recent I heard of is the word "pod" . To use it in electronics and merchandise that is for or mimics apples ipod, theyve been out to sue the asses of those using the pod word...
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Megan posted this at 12:41 — 24th August 2006.
She has: 10,304 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
.... waits for JeevesBond to show up and start ranting about software patents....
andy206uk posted this at 16:52 — 25th August 2006.
He has: 1,754 posts
Joined: Jul 2002
I think I'll do that...
Did you hear recently that Apple have paid Creative $100 million to use their patented menu system? Basically Creative got the patent for a hierachical system for organising music by artist, album and genre on a mobile device. How stupid is that? Aside from alphabetically how else can you organise music? I just think that you shouldn't be able to patent things that are common sense. Bloody stupid if you ask me.
Andyk
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Busy posted this at 21:55 — 25th August 2006.
He has: 6,157 posts
Joined: May 2001
two more,
Apple computers vs The Beatles; Beatles tried sueing Apple for copyright/trademark infringement because they did many moons ago - dont think it was actually registered, Beatles lost anyway.
Ugg boots - was in yesterdays paper that the Americans are trying to copyright the word ugg. ugg boot is a boot usually made in sheep skin, many different styles, esikmos i guess wear a type of them.
The stupid thing is, if they could copyright the term 'ugg boot' someone could come along and use 'ugg style boot'
<?bhb if(broken){ echo("It wasn't me
"); } ?>
Learn HTML the ez way - EzHTML.net
Some people are like slinkies, they dont really serve any purpose but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs ...
Joke posted this at 16:03 — 26th August 2006.
They have: 7 posts
Joined: Aug 2006
Yeah its OK but some people just take it too far!
Shirthead posted this at 12:54 — 29th August 2006.
He has: 58 posts
Joined: Jun 2006
This was Apple Records (the label the Beatles recorded under) rather than the Beatles themselves. Apple had previously signed an agreement not to use the name in relation to music (as Apple records cam first) - which they completely backed down on when they saw money to be made.
Shirthead : Cool T-shirts with a geeky bent
PatentBoy posted this at 13:12 — 29th August 2006.
They have: 8 posts
Joined: Aug 2006
Hi,
As a Uk/European Patent person perhaps I can help with some of these queries.
It is possible to register colours as trade marks in Europe, but it requires that that company has created by marketing etc an association in end-user's head that that colour means them. For example, Orange mobile phones in the UK, M&S's Green logo, Barclay bank's blue. However, what is covered is a very specific colour not orange per se but that particular tone of orange. To infirnge the trade mark, the use of the colour in relation to goods/services must be likley to cause confusion in the end user. So there is some common sense used.
Happy Birthday - copyright in lyrics and music lasts at most 100 years from the end of the yaer in which the author/musician died. I would guess that the copyright ran out long ago.
Pod - if people think there is an association and that association is worth money then I can understand Apple's right to sue on this matter. After all they have spent a fortune entering the MP3 player market and although have already been well paid for this clever gamble, it was a gamble.
Icreative/Apple - Us IP law is nuts - noone understands it- not even the courts. I could rant about this for a while (in particular Festo, the fighting between the upper courts, the US's special disclosure definition, first-to -invent, etc). However, it gives European patent law a bad name - the Open source community is based on this confusion - I have alot to say about them-.
Apple/Beatles records- Years ago they argreed that they could both use "apple" trade marks. They signed a contract which said Apple fwould stick to computers and the Beatles record would stick to music. The IPOD confused everything. Anyway, I think it came down to contract law in the end.
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demonhale posted this at 01:58 — 30th August 2006.
He has: 3,301 posts
Joined: May 2005
^ very enlightening posts... I do have one question however... How do you get your code with a technical effect or merit, be copyrighted in the net, although example you offer the end result of this software for free, then the idea of the software and how it achieves its outcome, can it be copyrighted, etc?
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demonhale posted this at 04:21 — 2nd September 2006.
He has: 3,301 posts
Joined: May 2005
reading all the ramblings is quite informative... now Im a bit confused, but those are fine points discussed... So can something physical could be easily copyrighted/patented... now I have something bothering me, can anyone care to discuss about intellectual property rights? I think its on the same train...
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PatentBoy posted this at 13:33 — 22nd October 2006.
They have: 8 posts
Joined: Aug 2006
Copyright in the UK protects the arrangement of letters in words.
The copyright in my first sentence exists, in the uk, automatically. The copyright protects the arrangement of the letters, not the meaning or the idea.
This principle extends (as far as I am aware) to the US.
The US statute has some interesting things to say such as "Copyright shall not protect computer programs".
So in conclusion, copyright may protect the arrangement of letters in your code, but not the idea, the look and feel, how it operates, the wya it operates, etc.
So relying on copyright is a bad idea.
Patents will be granted in the UK and Europe for a computer program which produces a technical effect/contribution and is novel and involves an inventive step.
This is evidently reasonable.
I get the feeling all those that are against computer patents have some idealistic Communist scheme where code is "ownded" by the world and...
Which doesn't work in practice.
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JeevesBond posted this at 16:23 — 22nd October 2006.
He has: 3,711 posts
Joined: Jun 2002
I'll respond to this at: http://www.webmaster-forums.net/showthread.php?t=35908
*** EDIT
And could everyone else do the same? Thanks.
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