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It's Not a Police Box, It's a Tardis

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the british-sci-fi-meets-copyright-law dept.

xA40D writes "The BBC is reporting that they've won the battle with the Metropolitan Police over the trademark police box, more commonly known as a Tardis: 'arbitrator Shaun Sherlock remarked that even if the police had built up any reputation, it would have only been in the area of policing and law enforcement and would not have extended into the goods and services which the BBC had applied to use it for.'"

7 of 236 comments (clear)

  1. Of course, you know that's TARDIS by penginkun · · Score: 5, Informative

    All caps, right? Time And Relative Dimensions in Space, yeah? OK. As you were.

    1. Re:Of course, you know that's TARDIS by 1u3hr · · Score: 4, Informative
      Oxford English Dictionary:
      acronym A word formed from the initial letters or parts of other words; loosely an abbreviation composed of initial letters.

      initialism A group of initial letters used as an abbreviation, esp. one in which each letter is pronounced separately.

      So, "loosely", an initialism is an acronym. (Not that I'd ever heard of an initialism before today.) But if one makes the distinction, I don't think that an acronym is an initialism either. Better to say both are abbreviations.

      But anyway, "Tardis" is strictly an acronym, so it should be written thusly. Unfortunately, the BBC chooses otherwise.

  2. Etymology of Tardis by jukal · · Score: 4, Informative

    tar -c myself && dis locate work->home.

  3. Re:What's the point? by vidarh · · Score: 5, Informative
    They're NOT both government departments. The BBC is a Corporation under Royal Charter. It may seem like a subtle difference, but it means that the BBC for the most part is run like any other company with the exception that it's board is appointed by the Crown, and it's main form of revenue is the license fee.

    Particularly under the Royal Charter BBC has an agreement that guarantee them editorial independence, which means that if they use the Tardis in a way that the Metropolitan Police doesn't like they don't have any recourse through government channels - they can choose to try to negotitate with the BBC, or they can sue. Presumably it's a situation like that the Met doesn't like.

  4. History of the British Police Box by fantomas · · Score: 5, Informative

    This looks like a good introduction to the history of the British Police Box...


    "The TARDIS style boxes were the most expensive and the cost for building a box in 1931 was 55pounds 16 shillings and 7pence, with another 3 pounds for number plate, coat hook, lino , stool, a fire extinguisher and bracket, as well as a brush and duster to keep the mini police station tidy!"


    Happy reading. Me, I'm 36 and grew up in England. Never saw a 'real' police box til I was a teenager. Vaguely knew that Dr. Who was travelling round in something that old-fashioned policemen used to use when my dad was a boy (or the Age of the Dinosaurs or similar) but never saw one until I was wandering round London as a teenager and found a few grubby disused and flyposted ones. Luckily these days councils have cottoned on to the fact that they are actually design classics, charming and tourists love them (as well as us who grew up as kids watching the Doctor take on tin foil and vacuum cleaner-part aliens), and they've been restoring a few rather than flattening them all.

  5. Re:What did a "police box" do ? by Foniks · · Score: 4, Informative

    They were used as a temporary holding cell for aprehended criminals and were made from anything from wood to cement. The front panel did house a phone that could be used by the public or the police to call for help/backup. In fact the original TARDIS was going to be an abandoned police box found in the country - but when the props guys rocked up it had been lifted, so they had to make a new one. Which lasted from 1963 till 1975ish when it fell apart on Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladens head.

  6. To purchase a Police Box by Foniks · · Score: 5, Informative

    Incidently, "This Planet Earth" used to make a full size replica TARDIS that you could purchase online. It came in a wood version and later a fibreglass version - but it has since been discontinued (only recently too). But you can still buy replica Daleks, Cybermen, K9's etc. Very high quality, i.e. as good if not better than the TV originals. In fact the Daleks have been used for Doctor Who promo gigs I believe. Check them out at http://www.thisplanetearth.co.uk It looks like they are thinking of releasing the 1996 movie version of the TARDIS soon..