Slashdot Mirror

Quote:
"Storage Tank has the potential to become to an organization's data what the Dewey Decimal system is to a library"

Strange that he compares it to a system that few libraries use anymore. Yes, it revolutionized cataloguing. Right before it became obsolete (because it cost too much).

Not too long ago Slashdot reported on the owners of the Dewey Decimal system suing a hotel in New York for using it as the theme for their room numbering. How long until IBM starts suing everyone with a storage tank?

In this case, the hotel is using a trademark of OCLC, and it is just as clear-cut as if you were to start selling Twinkies and Ding-Dongs.

Yes, it's completely clear-cut. The hotel is totally within their rights to call the system by its name. If they sell Smirnoff vodka in their bar, they can call it "Smirnoff". If they have CNN showing on a TV in the hall they can call it "CNN". If they have XBoxes in rooms, they can call them "XBoxes". And if they happen to use DDC for classification, they have the right to clearly say that. They do not claim their own hotel is DDC-hotel. They just say, in very plain language, that for every major category in DDC there is a floor in the hotel and for every secondary one there is a room. If the Library hotel used a different system and called it DDC, I could see the merit in this case, but they clearly use the correct DDC and so "Dewey Decimal System" the only correct way to call it.

What's the Dewey number for porn?

Whoops - they actually tell you: 800.001.

That's gotta be a great come on line for those sexy-looking librarians: "Hey babe, interested in some 800.001?"

Except that she'll probably come back with "Only in your 800.005."

What's the Dewey number for porn?

Whoops - they actually tell you: 800.001.

That's gotta be a great come on line for those sexy-looking librarians: "Hey babe, interested in some 800.001?"

Except that she'll probably come back with "Only in your 800.005."

Initially I read the Slashdot comments only and was under the impression that the DDC's lawsuit may have some merit. But after visiting the hotel's site I was completely fucking outraged at the American IP legal climate...

Here is what I found. The hotel uses something which very much resembles the original DDC classification, which is in public domain. As the site states, "Each of the ten guestroom floors of the Library is dedicated to one of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System: Social Sciences, Literature, Languages, History, Math & Science, General Knowledge, Technology, Philosophy, The Arts and Religion. Each of the sixty exquisitely appointed accommodations have been individually adorned with a collection of art and books relevant to one distinctive topic within the category of floor it belongs to.".

It's simply fucking insane that DDC is suing the hotel for that. I mean, WTF?! They claim trademark infridgement? They use the basic classification which is probably the same as original one, created 130 years ago and is now in public domain. If they use it, they are completely within their rights to call it "Dewey Decimal System" because that's what it is. And it's not like the hotel is in any competition with DDC. Nor any customers will be confused that the hotel is somehow affiliated with DDC. Stupid lawsuit and the whole concept of IP should be trashed. It's long overdue.

No shitting:
http://www.libraryhotel.com/special/erotica.html

-malakai