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Intel Puts The Squeeze On ... A Yoga Foundation?
geogeek6_7 writes: "Intel Inc., everyone's favorite chipmaker, has apparently decided that they own the rights to the word 'Inside.' In proceedings bordering on the line of frivolity, the Yoga Inside Foundation has been tagged with trademark infringment in papers submitted to the PTO by Intel. The article states that Intel will most likely use the Trademark Dilution Act of 1995 in court." Don't worry, Intel doesn't want every instance of the word "Inside" -- only the ones that come right after another word. (Look at the meaning of "Inside" that the YIF is referring to, and the story gets even more absurd.)
I think there should be a new reality TV Show, "Small Court of Sanity". Unlike current People's Court/Judge Judy TV shows, where individuals do small claims, this would be the first case where any lawsuit by a multimillion dollar company vs a much smaller entity would be aired.
Yep, the big companies would _have_ to use this court before the case was allowed to go (via appeal) to the usual federal courts. No lawyers, just like small court-- just the 2 sides presenting their case to a telegenic judge. Shown publically, to expose how ludicrious this is.
Court costs would, of course, be covered by advertising. The rest would go to the US gov't (thus probably wiping out the national debt in just 3 seasons...)
And hey, once the corps realized that the negative PR cost of being displayed as total loons on daytime TV cost more than nuking some pitiful NPO or individual, maybe fewer would be filed.
At least moving these things away from the horrible, horrible process that is our modern judiciary would give some recourse to individuals and small entities. You know it's bad when I'm recommending jerry springer-like exposure over the court system.
A.
"Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said the company knows it could come off looking to some like a bully."
This is the understatement of the year.
The yoga people are offering the Intel Exec's free lessons so that they can learn to be a little more "flexible." If I were in Intel PR, I'd jump on that opportunity right away, and issue a press release the next morning.
Witness the rebirth of ENRON!
tcd004
WARNING: Lawyers Inside.
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
I guess the lawyers for Intel have a trademark on "Evil Inside".
I guess their lawyers figure people will confused between yoga and a company with their head up their ass.
"Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
"Litigious Assholes Inside"
~Philly
I called intel tech support and they said the reason my new CPU won't boot is because its actually a 2 week yoga program. I felt a little embarrassed, but the techie said it's a common complaint and Intel is working on it.
Once upon a time, people worried about trademarks. They worried about trademarks because 'aspirin' had become a generic, and they worried that this might happen to them. They wanted to protect what was theirs. Companies competed with each other, and it was good.
Capitalism is good, in its pure and properly practiced form--unfortunately, so is any other form of economy. The bigger companies contributed to political campaigns, and so they began to get judges to rule in their favor even when, perhaps, it wasn't something they really had a right to. They paid for privacy when someone should have looked over their shoulders.
And then it gradually came to the point where large businesses *expected* this privilege. I can't blame Intel because they're behaving in a way which corporate America not only accepts but encourages. They're no longer motivated by a search for prosperity but by mere greed--they are the gluttons who want more food even when they can't eat anymore.
These lawsuits are the symptoms, not the disease. People need to become aware of the business practices of the companies they patronize, and modify their spending habits appropriately. They need to let their representatives know that the interests of business aren't *their* interests.
Once the people take the power *back* from the corporations, maybe the world will regain some of its sanity again. Remember, in America, even if you can't vote, you are an all-important Consumer--pay attention to the choices you make.
It kind of makes want to rush out and register "Just To Make Our Lawyers Fuzzy Inside". Just picture the court room.
:)
"Yes, your honor, we are suing Just To Make Our Lawyers Fuzzy Inside"
Finally, some honesty in the legal system.
They will be shortly re-issuing the CD with these sanitized lyrics that are more compatible with current American sensitivities:
I want to FUCK you like an animal
I want to feel you from the in***e
When asked for comment, band leader Trent Reznor said: "Yeah, I'm upset about this. But I feel better knowing that I've personally scored more chicks than all of the dorks working at Intel combined."
The word Yoga, for those who don't know actually means "union", and refers to the state of oneness with God and all humanity sought by the practitioners. It has many different flavors, only one of which is "Hatha Yoga", or "health union", which seeks to bring health to the body, so higher thoughts can be focused on before going to INNER yoga, which includes schools or raja, kriya, bhakti, and karma yoga, many of which some scholars believe have been passed on for as many as 4,000 years orally, and are refered to in the hindu vedas.
These people have been refering to yoga as an inner thing for thousands of years. If that's not prior use please shoot me.
-The art of programming is the pursuit of absolute simplicity.
all that bad karma could hammer them down.
The difference between Hindu karma and Slashdot "karma" (capped cumulative moderation result) is that with Hindu karma, you can't just reset your karma to neutral by killing yourself (i.e. creating another account). Your karma (action) has to follow dharma (the good way) if you want the god to give you the Bonus in the next life. See also Hindu Karma FAQ.
Will I retire or break 10K?
This is a bunch of bullshit. Intel, please don't blame others for your assinite attempts to own the English language. Its not the laws fault that you're assholes. Not only that, but who FORCED you to trademark a COMMON word like Inside? There are many common usages of the word inside which have another describing word preceeding it.
"We can't let a precedent be set," he explained. " 'Yoga Inside' might not sound bad, but what happens when someone comes along with 'Apple Inside'?"
If its in reference to an Apple being in an apple orchard, that's fucking fine.
Even if its Apple computer, who said you have the right to trademark common words? If Apple came up with an add that said something like:
"Apple Inside"
there's nothing wrong with that either. After all, that's what it is: Its an Apple. Since its also an Apple on the outside, they might say something like:
Apple Outside. Apple Inside.
This is just plain ludicrous. Other people shouldn't be prevented from using the ENGLISH LANGUAGE to their benefit because you assholes can't be original and trademark things that aren't already words.
By the way, you fucking assholes, there's something called the First Amendment. It has constitutional basis, so it trumps any "trademark" laws.
This is no different than IBM trying to trademark the "e" symbol with a circle around it. Come on. That's fucking bullshit.
Suggesting to Intel, IBM, and other lamers who are trying to own the English Language by trademarks: if your going to make a trademark, make up a word/symbol for it. Suggestion to Intel for a REAL trademark:
"Intelliside"
Oh wait, because of assholes like you Intel fucks, MS might sue you for trademark violations of its "IntelliPoint" mouse.
Other assholes include Nike, both for trademarking the word "Nike" and for trademarking the Nike symbol. Nike is the greek god of victory, closely associated with Athena/Minerva. And her symbol was the same symbol that the Nike shoe uses. Sounds like fucking prior art to me. Not to mention, it should be public domain.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
Oh there are other countries' companies who act so bully. For example Deutsche Telekom, who had a daughter T-Online sued anyone who had a word beginning with 'T-' as mark, e.g. "T-arif". They even sued someone who used magenta as main color in his website because, according to them, the color was associated with Telekom too much.
(sorry... no infringing use of the song by the same name was intended...)...
Actually, song titles are one of the few things you still can't trademark or copyright.
I used to work at Tower Records, and let me tell you, take any common word or cliche, like, say, "Broken" or "Not this time", and run them through the database, and you'll find 15 or 20 songs of the same name.
In fact, the band Death Cab for Cutie lifted its name directly from the title of an old Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band song - and, believe it or not, Bonzo had absolutely no legal remedy.
"Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."
How dare you people criticize the little guys like Intel. Larger non-profit (profit-making) business like YIF have forced feeble organizations like Intel into submission. Most people don't know that YIF distributes products such as the Yoga Pentium and the Yoga Celeron. Give peace a chance!
.smell my feet.
Yoga Inside has been active since 1999 based on work done in 1995 by Mark Stephens in LA juvenile detention camps with six Tibetan monks sent by the Dalai Lama. here
That book has a website, www.yoga-insideout.com, here
"Inside and Out" is a popular way of describing holistic health, and the phrase "yoga inside" is commonly used to describe the experience, like the site here.
There is a travel company called Inside India which works with several Yoga therapy centers for health tours, here.
Barbara Kallir directed an instructional video guide to tantric yoga, "Inside Westside". Recommended for the Lawyers after those free courses, here.
Couldn't find a link between the Dalai Lama and Intel, unless you count that both are successful exiles. Although Apple struck the Dalai Lama from their Asian billboards so maybe ..nah.
The fourth most popular use of the word conjunction "yoga inside" on the web, after the prison project, the video, and general discussions of yoga and health experiences, is Intel's suit. How many hundreds of millions of dollars of PR is this costing Intel I wonder? Maybe the defendant should get the video publisher to join in, seems like they are making lots of money with their domain name.
The job of a corporation is to make money. To
increase shareholder value. You can hardly blame
them for trying to do that. Even if you don't
like the means.
It is the job of governments to create and enforce
rules that corps have to comply to. It is the job
of a government to care for the goods of its
citizens.
If the jurisdiction fails, put the blame where it
belongs.
This isn't the first time some idiots masquerading as lawyers have tried to bully someone.
Warner Brother's staff counsel made the mistake of threatening Groucho Marx because he had announced a new movie with the name "Casablanca" in it. Here is Groucho's initial response... What's truly amazing is that Warner Brother's didn't understand how stupid they looked after getting Groucho's initial letter. The exchange continued for several more letters until somebody at Warner Brothers finally got the message.
Need a sig? Here, have this one...
Intel Hires Idiots
I'm sorry, but you're simply wrong. Peugot has often *claimed* to won those numbers, but they certainly don't. In the case of Porsche they decided they couldn't afford to fight Peugot in court and "voluntarily" acquiesed.
What's more you are under the impression that trademark is intellectual property. It isn't. It is association in the public's mind, and if the public loses that association you lose the right to the exclusive right to use the mark, as in Band-Aid and Kleenex.
As such, in a very real and legal way, a trademark is the "intellectual property" of the public!
A trademark is an item that can be uniquely identified with a business. A company is granted the "temporary" right to the exclusive use of the mark only so long as it is, and remains, a unique indentifier.
As it happens a car model number with zero in the middle does *not* uniquely identify a Peugot, and "Yoga Inside" does NOT conjur up images of computer chips.
Thus neither is a valid trademark.
KFG