Hotel Being Sued for Using the Dewey Decimal System

cbull writes "Did you know the Dewey Decimal System isn't in the public domain? The rights are owned by the Online Computer Library Center. They are suing the Library Hotel in New York for trademark infringement. In addition, according to the article, libraries pay at least $500/year to use the system."

Comments

well damn!

[flyneye]

i would like to copyright all the prime numbers.

Re:well damn!

[Wooky_linuxer]

Too late, I've already patented all numbers ( in all bases including binary) and all counting systems. All your bits are belong to me.

Re:well damn!

[Dashing Leech]

These "patants" you speak of sound suspiciously similar to "patents". I wonder if that could be a trademark violation, like selling a "Rolax" instead of "Rolex".

Fees for this?

[Martin Blank]

Next thing you know, someone's going to start charging for Linux.

Oh, wait...

340

[Anonymous Coward]

Dewey Decimal for Law books. They're gonna need it.

What have

[Timesprout]

Hewey and Lewey got to say about this ?

hah

[yoshi1013]

"Excuse me, where can I find a book on astronomy?"

"Don't you know the Dewey Decimal System????"

CONAN THE LIBRARIAN!

library hotel

[ibmman85]

i like the erotica package detailed on their site.. sounds pretty good.. i dont think my girlfriend's parents would too much approve of us utilizing such facilities though and it probably costs more than the $2 that belongs to me. college. blah.

Re:Next thing...

[rhiorg]

No, just for the letters "S" "C" and "O".

This is going to destroy the hotel business

[Anonymous Coward]

That and the $10,000/year in license fees paid to the Mint family for the right to put a chocolate on your pillow.

Re:How is this NOT public domain?

[sgb235]

The rights to it were bought by SCO.

Re:Connections

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't you think that a person browsing the website might just think "Oh, they're a theme hotel"?

What do you think people are, mind readers? It's just like how Spike TV is *obviously* trying to make money off of Spike Lee's name.

These lawsuits are vital in reminding us of things that have since been forgotten, like the Dewey Decimal system and Spike Lee.

Re:LoC Classification

[perp]

National pride will probably prevent countries other than the US from using a system that divides the history of the world into:

D -- HISTORY (GENERAL) AND HISTORY OF EUROPE
E -- HISTORY: AMERICA
F -- HISTORY: AMERICA

While I'm sure the LOC system works fine for the Library of Congress, it does not seem to be widely applicable enough to replace the Dewey Decimal Sysem around the world.

Incidentally, I am shocked that use of the DDC requires royalties more than 100 years after its invention.

Re:LoC Classification

[Jeremy Erwin]

Oh come on. The LoC has made some good choices.
"BS"--The Bible, Hebrew and Christian

Re:Out of business

[Reverend528]

Why would anyone want to rename Services For Unix? It has such a catchy acronym.

PORN!

[Malfourmed]

What's the Dewey number for porn?

Whoops - they actually tell you: 800.001.

That's gotta be a great come on line for those sexy-looking librarians: "Hey babe, interested in some 800.001?"

Except that she'll probably come back with "Only in your 800.005."

Re:This could be good

[RAMMS EIN]

``But does it belong under "math", "computer science", or "computer languages -> C"? (Dewey seperates Computing out into a seperate category, rather than placing it under math).

The answer, of course, is all three.''

ln /math/BookTitle /cs

What? Your library does not support links? Don't tell me they use Windows... How do you mean ``The Real World doesn't support hard links''? What kind of operating system is that???

Re:Interesting idea

[SEWilco]

If God wants to take someone to court, he'll first have to create an attorney in his own image...
No, not even an omniscient God can comprehend the Law and court procedures.