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It's Not a Police Box, It's a Tardis
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.'"
All caps, right? Time And Relative Dimensions in Space, yeah? OK. As you were.
You mean the BBC are planning to use the policebox for timetravel tips?
The timelords would not be happy about that.
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
Next stop will be ionian columns.
(The Master's tardis default appearance)
... that my room was a tardis. not so much for interstellar travel and everything that the good doctor used to do (although that would be cool), but just so I can fit all my shit in there easily.
dont know how much my cat would like K-9 though...
I peed in one of those Tardis boxes when I went to the UK, as I seriously thought it was a public urinal (I was very drunk) :D
But anyways, it's not like the police were going to win against the BBC's high-priced lawyers -- and now that this lawsuit's over, the police (read: taxpayers) also have to pay the BBC's mega legal fees, too, even if the rest of it is just 850 pounds.
If I were a UK taxpayer, I'd be quite angry at them for it.
You'd think the coppers would have something better to do than having trade mark wrangles with the BBC over something they stopped using nearly 50 years ago. Sounds a bit opportunistic - were they trying to raise some cash for the police social club?
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WTF? Hey, I totally support police finding "alternative" methods of funding (as opposed to milking the taxpayers, or confiscating anything they lay their eyes on thanks to the WO(s)D, ala a witchfinder general), but really...
With all that we have going on in the world, these folks have nothing better to do than bicker over who owns a damned box? Oh, sorry, the *IMAGE* of the box. My bad. That makes it so much more serious.
If he were just a bit more clever, there never would have been a dispute. Nobody would have ever known there was a such thing as a "TARDIS" if the Doctor wasn't materializing and dematerializing all over London in broad daylight like that.
If these walls could talk they'd probly still ignore me. --MF DOOM
Another question is... which Dr. Who?
tar -c myself && dis locate work->home.
'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.'
In response to which the BBC commented, "No shit, Sherlock."
The point is that when the government sues itself, it begins a process that theoretical physio-economists have postulated will result in the following phases: 1. A massive increase in the consumption of money, in this case pounds. 2. Due to the increased consumption, the government expands. 3. After burning through a considerable ammount of money as determined by the famouse Shrodinger-Herzfeld equation, it begins to collapse in on itself. 4. The collapse accelerates, during which a number of curious phenomenon are predicted such as the emission of Higg-bosons, PI denominated Euros, and pfennig-marks. 5. Finally, the government collapses into a Police Box, err... Tardis, from which an infinite supply of pounds eminates which curiously enough neither overinflates the economy nor vaporizes the world into a burst of X-rays. Unfortunately, it causes everybody to lose their teeth at an early age but most of the scientists studying the matter don't see this as a great problem, and they are eager to continue their research.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
...the metropolitan police are running out of places to hide the bodies and simply need to figure out the "dimensionally transcendental" nature of the TARDIS in order to have more room.
In light of this, I wonder why the people with the patent on the tire-pressure-checker have never gone after the BBC for infringing on their design for the sonic screwdriver!
The real culprit here is the broken Chameleon Circuit. It was under warranty, but alas - the last time he was near an authorized OEM service station, the good Doctor had to leave Gallifrey in haste before someone tried to go and make him Lord President again...
And remember - the REAL Matrix doesn't involve a kid whose only line is "there is no spoon."
Dr. Who rocks. Only he could go back to the beginning of time and jettison 1/3 of the TARDIS (which is asserted in many previous episodes to be infinite) to escape from the gravitational pull that would become the Big Bang. Silly Zero Room.
That's my purse! I don't know you! -- Bobby Hill
In a meaningful way, they may have just made it possible for people to use any non-commercial trademark in a way that doesn't infringe on the original use.
;-)
I don't think this is anything particularly new. The Beatles' Apple record company used to use a picture of a real apple on the labels, which I assume they considered to be a trademark.
I don't think the farmer tried to sue them for it.
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.
Awright, now they have the budget to bring back Dr. Who for another season! More tinfoil and oatmeal skinned aliens than ever before!
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
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.
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.
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..
That's funny, I was in the area just recently, and I swear it's not there now...
Unless...!
This is how the BBC got the TARDIS idea:
Director: We'r doing a space time travel "Star Trek" type thing. We need a flash spaceship, with lots of flashing lights lights and things.
Props man: This is the BBC, be realistic.
Director: OK, well we need a cheap model spaceship with thin wires that we can blue-screen with and do some cheesy fly-by shots.
Props man: This is the BBC, be realistic.
Director: Well we need something, what have you got?
Props man: I've got this old phone box from "Dixon of Dock Green", needs a lick of paint but...
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But the Metropolitan Police lost its appeal and has been ordered to pay £850, plus legal costs.
Hmm. That should be just about enough cash for the BBC to pay for the special effects to film another episode...
So? I do that all the time in my car.
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