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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.
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."
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.
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.
The yoga people are offering the Intel Exec's free lessons so that they can learn to be a little more "flexible."
Intel should take a lesson from Southwest Airlines. A few years back, some small North Carolina company called them up claiming to have prior rights to "Just Plane Smart". And instead of threatening legal action, they suggested an arm-wrestling match - i.e. winner takes the trademark.
Southwest actually sent a wrestler (who lost), and won a ton of PR points for it.