Slashdot Mirror
Yahoo Serious Fights Yahoo! trademark
fsck writes "Australian actor Yahoo Serious is fighting Internet portal Yahoo! for the trademark to the word Yahoo, registered with the Australian Trade Marks Office in August. Yahoo! was founded in 1994, whereas Yahoo Serious changed his name by deed poll in 1980. It sounds as though Mr Serious is, among other things, tired of receiving any more misdirected Yahoo! snail mail." The levels of comedy to this are astounding.
I think the question should be: Is he serious???
What about Jonathan Swift who inveted the word in the first place?
Surely the great great great grand nice (twice removed on her mother's side) could have some contention about this?
GCM d+ s+:+ a- c++ U? P! L E-- W++ NM+ V PS- PE+ Y+ PGP- t 5+ X?+ R+++$ tv+ b+ DI++++ D---- G e
I actually wondered about this one, having seen Serious' magnum-crapus 'Young Einstein' several years ago - early nineties, IIRC. I think the important reason why he's waited this long, is that he's an Australian, and this whole thing started with the August registration in Australia of the Yahoo! brand.
I know that you supposedly can't trademark a proper name, and since Yahoo had changed his proper name -to- Yahoo ages ago, he's got a very good point. This one'll be fun to see the results of.
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
If you read the link, it finds in favor of Yahoo.com. Pertinent info below:
From the Australian Trade Marks Office:
Yahoo Serious v Yahoo! Inc [2001] ATMO 74 (13 August 2001)
The evidence shows that Mr Serious does not use his name, Yahoo Serious, or his forename, to distinguish goods or services. It is true that he writes, directs and produces motion picture films in which he stars; however, it is not apparent in the evidence that either of the words `Yahoo Serious', or the word `Yahoo' are used as a trade mark in relation to the films. The closest that I can find in the evidence to use of any sign that might be as a trade mark is the repeated use of the words, a `Serious Production' or `Serious Entertainment' on promotional material associated with the motion pictures. However, this use is obviously of no assistance to Mr Serious as the opposed trade mark is the word YAHOO! and I therefore do not have to decide whether this use of the word SERIOUS is as a trade mark.
there are 2 kinds of people. those who divide people into 2 kinds, and those who don't.
Today's show has been brought to you by.. the letter A, the letter D... shit, someone copyrighted the letter D.. ok ok, the number 3... fuck not again
I think most of you guys are missing the point.
:)
Yahoo is moving to register the trademark now, they applied for it in August. Being an actor, it means that if Yahoo Serious was to release merchandise etc. under the name Yahoo, Yahoo! inc. would probably sue him.
This wasn't a problem before they applied for the trademark.
How would you guys feel if I tried to register the trademark "Linus Torvalds" tomorrow?
I think that Mr. Serious has a serious point.
(pardon the pun
Course, the fact that he's not exactly the best known actor ever may prevent most people from being confused since they're unlikely to have heard of him. But since IANAL, I'm going to leave that discussion to the court to decide.
And laugh if he wins.
It's just a shame he didn't change his name to Micro Soft.
A: So I'm starting this internet company.
C: Oh yeah, well you better have a really good name for it. Something to stick in people heads.
A: Oh I do, I'm really excited about it.
C: What is it?
A: Yahoo!
C: So you're excited, so what's the name.
A: No, that's the name.
C: What's the name?
A: Yahoo!
C: I can't tell it's exciting, what's the name!
A: I just told you the name.
C: Why can't you just tell me the name.
A: Yahoo!
C: You can't be serious.
A: I'm not, that's someone else.
C: That's not what I'm asking!
On behalf of my fellow Australians I would like to apologize for the crimes committed against comedy by Yahoo Serious.
I'm surprised you haven't heard of him. He's pretty well known. His movies are fun to watch. Sort of a cross between Ed Wood and Paul Hogan.
Who is Sir Donald Bradman Indeed! Ok It may just be that im australian, but Sir Donald Bradman is one of the Australias most famous cricketers. Born in 1908 in SA (south australia) , with a test average of 99.94, and in all the tests in which he played, in he scored a total of close to 7000 runs.
Sadly Sir Don passed away in august 2000. he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. one of may great australians. but then I guess most Americans wouldnt know of him, let alone Cricket.
the words "Yahho Serious" and "genius" shoud never be uttered in the same sentance.
Apple Computer and Apple Vacations. They both use the same identifier, there's a potential trademark violation. Except there isn't, because one is "Computer" and is associated with hardware and software, while the other is "Vacations" and is associated with the travel industry. Easy to tell them apart. This is how trademark disputes using common words are dealt with.
Yahoo! (with the exclamation mark, which they have always used even if their users don't) is associated with a Web portal, and has been for years, while Yahoo Serious (with the last name) has always been associated with comedy (well, loosely). "Yahoo" is a common word, but they're used differently in each case, so there's no confusion.
If you ask me, this is just a cheap publicity ploy by Yahoo Serious to get his name back in the public eye, since his acting ability is incapable of doing so. The dispute is a non-issue, and will be treated as such by the courts.
My name is Scott. Does that mean I can sue the owner of scott.com? Nope.
Did Yahoo Serios pull his current name out of thin air, i.e. was is completely originaly and never been said before? Nope, that word has been around a lot longer than he's been using it.
He's been in more recent movies than Young Einstein but when was the last time you heard his name mentioned? During promos for Young Einstein.
Does he have a chance in hell of winning? Nope.
their stock price and business model, Yahoo! should probably change their name to OhShit!
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Does that mean that SERIOUS Sam might be in breach of Yahoo Serious trademark.
I don't want to play as 'Slightly Serious Sam' or 'Mostly Harmless Sam'
Dammit I wanna be Serious Sam and I want some serious fragging now.....
(I just know I'm going to get flamed for this statement) Just from reading the posts so far, I think a lot of people are missing the point.
Yahoo!'s trademark gives them the necessary leverage needed to keep others from associating their name with products/services/activities/etc that have nothing to do with Yahoo!. As a result, Yahoo Serious (who apparently still has a career in Australia) runs the risk of legal troubles if he uses his legal first name to promote his movies. Imagine him making a movie that has a corresponding movie poster with wording like "Yahoo Presents...[movie title]" or a title like (in class Earnest fashion) "Yahoo Goes To The Outback." Yahoo! could, if they so desired, sue Yahoo Serious (or, more likely, whatever production company made the film) for trademark violations, since their trademarked name was used in the promotion of a product they had nothing to do with.
To put a spin on an anology someone else used on this subject, having the name Scott does not, indeed, give you the right to own scott.com. But if Scott Tissue got a trademark on the name "Scott", they could possibly sue you for making a homepage titled "Scott's Web Site", simply on the implication that Scott Tissue might be associated with the site due to the use of a trademarked name.
I still think Yahoo Serious will lose this legal battle, but it still kind of stinks that companies can trademark such phrases (instead of something a bit more obvious, like a logo).
My sigs always suck.
My name is Scott. Does that mean I can sue the owner of scott.com? Nope.
/services he offers.
No, you can't steal scott.com. But they can't TRADEMARK "scott" either. Yahoo! applied for a trademark in the ENTERTAINMENT FIELD in Australia in August. That trademark would prohibit Mr. Serious (who changed his name in 1980) from being able to market himself or his production company, his films or any other products
Mr. Serious is NOT attempting to hijack yahoo.com, and he could probably care less about domains, so long as he is able to continue to use his own domain yahooserious.com, and whatever the australian one is.
If you read the part of the article about the lawsuit itself, you might note that he's been filing "notices of opposition" with the Australian trademark office in a timely manner over the last 4 years. This qualifies him to bring suit.
Trademark isn't the same thing as copyright. You get to own a trademark for as long as you're actively using it; they don't expire. But Swift wouldn't own this trademark. Simply using something in a fictional story doesn't establish a trademark. You have to do business with/under than name.
This space unintentionally left unblank.
I believe that lawsuit was a result of an agreement made between the two that said that Apple Records was to be used for anything "that makes sounds." Adding sound capability to their line of computers (something they probably never thought of when they made the agreement) got Apple into trouble.
It is at these fringe overlaps that people get into trouble. As others pointed out, Yahoo! Movies is a good example.
No, no one is going to confuse a bad actor and a web portal, but people can confuse Yahoo! Movies with Yahoo Serious Movies.
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
Nope, just a Yahoo.
First, the story is that Yahoo Serious is appealing the August decision.
Secondly, Yahoo! the company has registered a trademark in Australia for use in, amongst other things, "Entertainment services including television programmes". On the face of it, he may have a case that using "Yahoo!" as a trademark in the entertainment industry would be "confusingly similar" to his name, even though he has not trademarked his name.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
On a movie theatre facade: "Yahoo Serious is Young Einstein"
Lisa Simpson: "I know those words, but that sentance makes no sense to me!"
---
Gort! Klatu Barata Nikto!
According to IMDB, his birth name is Greg Pead ... must have been a rough childhood.