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> german (food) companies are somewhat known to defend their trademarks.

It works the other way around, too. A French publishing company (Les éditions Albert René, sorry no link as they doesn't seem to have a Website. editions-albert-rene.com is ironically enough owned by a cybersquatter) sued a German about the domain mobilix.org (you see, they publish the Asterix [fr] comic books, and they thought the name Mobilix was too close to the Obelix character). Despite there being huge piles of names ending in -ix (does Unix rings a bell ?), the German courts sided with the publisher, forcing the site to relocate. You can find more about this fiasco at its new address.

So, does this mean French or German courts are full of slimy judges who do not understand a thing to technology (or like big business) ? I do not think so. For instance, recently, a German court upheld the GPL against a WiFi router manufacturer, and at least one French court confirmed it was legal to download files from P2P networks (as long as there was no sharing, which kills a bit the point of P2P, but they couldn't go against the written copyright law). The problem is that trademark laws seem stronger in Europe, and the judges are simply doing their job. And sometimes, businesses are on the losing end : five years ago, Vivendi was forced to pay [fr] a huge sum to an individual who had previously registered a mark similar to their own, Vizzavi...

A short Gaul whose best friend is Obelix... oh, wait, I thought you meant Asterix, not Asterisk...

Um, Asterix is the comic where he drinks the potions to get super strength and beat back the Romans.

but i can't resist when i see a throwback to my grade school days. if you read the "from the department" lines, like i do, you noticed a reference to this, and if you take the time to read it you'll find puns equally as clever as the reference in the summary.

Apparently, not too many Asterix fans here.
Too bad most of the US is oblivious to the wonders of Tintin and Asterix.

Perl really looks like the curses in Asterix comic books.

The Gaul? I don't think he's into being "used" in that manner.

And a special nod of appreciation to norburym for mentioning the Tintin references in the review!

It was cool to see a reference to one of my favorite fiction/comic books on Slashdot. I hate to call Tintin and Asterix comic books because they're so much more than mere comics. I've noticed though, that not many people are as hooked to the Tintin and Asterix series in the US as in Europe/Asia. They're great for kids and much *much* better than the shitload of comics that they read nowadays.

I've had trouble finding them in the public libraries (in 3 states) and even the big book stores. So people who haven't heard/read these books, are definetly missing out on some cool reading. Check them out at your local library or atleast their websites: Tintin and Asterix.

Note: I am in no way affiliated to these books/publishers/websites. I'm just an avid fan :)

I'm not saying you don't have a point. Myself, I'd just rephrase it as, "Humour is a lot harder to translate than action."

1. servnix (for the webserver)
2. routnix (the router)
3. zaehlnix (for the accounting. german "zaehl"=="to count").
4. ...

What I don't understand is how can they argue trademark infrigement, when there are no characters by the name of mobilix in the Asterix and Obelix books list of characters.

This just sounds to me like an attempt to bully small organizations into submission.

This is quoted from an interview with Albert Uderzo ( one of the creators of Asterix and Obelix ):

"For us, like for most French people, what we know of the Gauls begins with Vercingetorix. The 'RIX' at the end of his name means 'king' and is 'REX' in Latin and 'RIX' in Celtic. Not all Gaulish names end with 'IX', but we thought it would be fun to remind people of Vercingetorix. And it was also easier for us to have the Romans with names ending in 'US' and the Gauls with names in 'IX'

After that we used a similar formula for foreigners - using 'OS' or 'IS' for Greeks. We always enjoyed coming up with names from expressions and puns. This made it a very difficult job for our translators, because they had to create their own names so they would be funny in their language."

If you don't know much about Asterix and Obelix, it is a comic book about a gaulish (french) village that resists the assault of the roman empire. It was originally written by Rene Goscinny and drawn by Albert Uderzo. Sadly, Rene Goscinny passed away November 5, 1977.

After that point, Albert Uderzo has become the principal writer and he no longer draws the comics.

It is my opinion that ever since, the quality of the comic has decreased

My suspicion is that this lawsuit is one last feeble attempt by Uderzo to make more money. See the following quote of the same interview:

"Together with three friends, we had created a small publishing company, that was just managing to get by. We didn't make much money, but we sure had a lot of fun."

Notice that he mentions financial issues twice in a row, which in my opinion expresses his biggest worry.

I also find it interesting that in the entire official Asterix and Obelix web site there is not one single mention of Rene Goscinny, other than on the copyright line at the page footer, and that he refers to Rene Goscinny as one of his "...three friends,..." What are they hiding???.

Does anyone have access to the lawsuit documents? I am very interested in reading why they think they deserve to win this lawsuit.

What I don't understand is how can they argue trademark infrigement, when there are no characters by the name of mobilix in the Asterix and Obelix books list of characters.

This just sounds to me like an attempt to bully small organizations into submission.

This is quoted from an interview with Albert Uderzo ( one of the creators of Asterix and Obelix ):

"For us, like for most French people, what we know of the Gauls begins with Vercingetorix. The 'RIX' at the end of his name means 'king' and is 'REX' in Latin and 'RIX' in Celtic. Not all Gaulish names end with 'IX', but we thought it would be fun to remind people of Vercingetorix. And it was also easier for us to have the Romans with names ending in 'US' and the Gauls with names in 'IX'

After that we used a similar formula for foreigners - using 'OS' or 'IS' for Greeks. We always enjoyed coming up with names from expressions and puns. This made it a very difficult job for our translators, because they had to create their own names so they would be funny in their language."

If you don't know much about Asterix and Obelix, it is a comic book about a gaulish (french) village that resists the assault of the roman empire. It was originally written by Rene Goscinny and drawn by Albert Uderzo. Sadly, Rene Goscinny passed away November 5, 1977.

After that point, Albert Uderzo has become the principal writer and he no longer draws the comics.

It is my opinion that ever since, the quality of the comic has decreased

My suspicion is that this lawsuit is one last feeble attempt by Uderzo to make more money. See the following quote of the same interview:

"Together with three friends, we had created a small publishing company, that was just managing to get by. We didn't make much money, but we sure had a lot of fun."

Notice that he mentions financial issues twice in a row, which in my opinion expresses his biggest worry.

I also find it interesting that in the entire official Asterix and Obelix web site there is not one single mention of Rene Goscinny, other than on the copyright line at the page footer, and that he refers to Rene Goscinny as one of his "...three friends,..." What are they hiding???.

Does anyone have access to the lawsuit documents? I am very interested in reading why they think they deserve to win this lawsuit.

All my linux boxes are named after Gauls,

• getafix
• unhygenix
• dogmatix

• julius
• brutus
• odious

• decaf
• timandahaf

It also has lists of characters for naming your machines.