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

School library

[Leffe]

Hmm... from what I've found out about DDC, it seems like my school library uses it.

I really doubt they have a license. And there's no way to find out until tuesday... I can't wait!

Oh, and here's a nice intro on DDC:

http://www.oclc.org/dewey/versions/ddc22print/intr o.pdf
(Why is there a space between the 'r' and 'o'?)

Re:Out of business

[signe]

Read the article first, please.

The lawsuit said the center sent three letters to Kallan from October 2000 to October 2002, asking for acknowledgment of Online's ownership of the Dewey trademarks, but the hotel owner didn't respond.

While I agree the hotel should pay the back licensing fees, I think this lawsuit is a little excessive. But given that they said letters were sent, it's probably just to get the hotel's attention. The OCLC even says at the bottom of the article that they're looking to settle, and they don't want the hotel to go out of business. They just want a licensing agreement.

I've been to the Library Hotel. It's a really nice place. Yes, the books play an integral part in the ambiance of the hotel. But the use of the Dewey Decimal System is hardly the biggest thing they've got going for them, or the most important. They could easily drop the DDC classifications of the floors and rooms and the hotel would lose nothing by it.

-Todd

It's a Trademark infringement case.

[ExRex]

The suit is for trademark infringement, not copyright or patent infringement.

In the U.S. Trademark rights can be held indefinitely by the registrant, or it's successors in interest as in this case, with timely filing of required paperwork and paying of appropriate fees.

What I find amusing is that the designer's of the hotel clearly did not do their homework. The research branch of the New York Public Library doesn't even use the Dewey system. It uses the Library of Congress categories. Here's the NYPL's online catalog. I guess the designer's went into the Library to look at the architecture, but didn't actually bother to call for a book, or even check the catalog. Had they, they wouldn't be in this pickle.

Re:Oh good grief

[Meowing]

and i wasn't aware that our library paid a license fee. (In fact, i don't remember that in our expenses at all, which makes me wonder whether it fell under 'miscellaneous,' or whether our relatively-new library simply failed to bother...)

It's sort of a hidden fee. The DDC book costs about $400, new edition every 3 years or so.

Note though, that the hotel isn't being sued for using the classification system, but for infringing on the Dewey trademark for commercial purposes.

Re:whichever it is, it should have expired

[the eric conspiracy]

And if it's trademarked, there shouldn't be any problem, since they don't call themselves the "Dewey Decimal Hotel."

It's trademarked, and there is a problem because they are using the Dewey Decimal System name in their advertising without permission.