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Godzilla Getting Ready to Stomp Mozilla?

Posted by timothy on from the we-own-your-formative dept.

mrBlond writes: "Doing the rounds: Seems like Toho [jp], 'the owner of all rights in and to the trademark and service mark GODZILLA [jp] and the GODZILLA characters,' is coming down on Davezilla for use of 'zilla' in his domain name and his dragon logo, to set a precedent before attacking Mozilla."

8 of 747 comments (clear)

  1. Not sure if this matters by smileyy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...but the term "Mozilla" has been associated with Netscape for a long, long time, even before the open source project. In fact, you're likely to see "Mozilla" in most user agent strings, even from non-Netscape browsers.

    --
    pooptruck
  2. zilla != Godzilla by Fastball · · Score: 5, Insightful

    By their claim, Microsoft would be able to file suit against Microtek, Micron, Micromedia, Microware, ... I can see where there is an argument against the reptilian logo, but to parse letters in a non-profit project's title goes too far.

    1. Re:zilla != Godzilla by alienmole · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem with your bug is that there's not a developer alive who can fix that one, no matter how 1337 their coding skillz may be...

  3. God forbid! by brooks_talley · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I feel so sorry for this poor company. Having one of their trademarks lightly referenced in the context of the open source vs. Microsoft battle. Thus keeping the mark in front of not only geeks, but a fair amount of the mainstream as well. Thereby increasing interest in their Godzilla properties, and generally entrenching the -zilla suffix in the not only english, but other languages as well.

    It must be terrible for them, all that free publicity.

    Of course, to retain control of the trademark it might be necessary to come to some licensing agreement, but trying to stamp out the use of -zilla is a serious case of shooting oneself in the foot. Hormel wised up about Spam; you'd think these folks would learn from that example.

    Cheers
    -b

  4. Re:Hard to argue by gengee · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Excuse me? It's a clear case of fair use. Have corporations really been so successful in pulling the blinds over our collective eyes that people do not take issue with a company claiming ownership of the formative 'zilla' and any remote likeness of a "reptile-like creature?"

    This would be roughly equivalent to the owners of the Chef Boyardee trademark claiming ownership of "Chef" when used in conjunction with any food product:P

    Trademarks are NOT ownership of a word. It is ownership of a brand. Hence, I can call my product "Kleenex" if I'm selling candy. If I'm selling tissue, however, you can bet Kimberly-Clark would come knocking.

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    - James
  5. Actually time advantage is to Mozilla... by sterno · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here's the thing. Trademark requires that the holder of the trademark actively defend their mark. If they do not do so and it falls into common usage, it's too bad so sad for the trademark holder. So, even if you successfully argue that Mozilla infringed on Godzilla (are these really confusingly similar?), the judge will ask why they have let it exist for the past 10 years without questioning it.

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    This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
    1. Re: Actually time advantage is to Mozilla... by SirSlud · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, but we all know that most of the leveraging, actions, and reactions happening in the world today is in no way connected to reality and legality - the world is run on threats now.

      You know what that is? Stupid. It means its become more efficient and cheap to succumb to threats than to see issues through to their proper and (I can't stress this enough) correct conclusion. I have no feelings either which way in this case; what frusterates the FUCK out of me is that we'll likely never get to see who's right, in court.

      Personally, I'm waiting for the laywer industry to reform its traditional garb and start dressing more like jocks and repo men.

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
  6. Lindows by d3xt3r · · Score: 4, Insightful
    If Lindows is a not a trademark violation, than certainly neither is Mozilla.

    Mozilla has nothing to do with Godzilla. Godzilla is a fictional character, Mozilla is a web browser and a user-agent. The term "Mozilla" as a user-agent has been around since the early days of Netscape. My guess is that any attempt to sue the Mozilla organization for trademark violation would be laughed out of court.