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Imminent Mandrake Name Change?
An anonymous reader writes "Mandrakesoft has lost a trial
and has been condemned to change its name and its logo"
The article is in French, but it says that King Syndicates owns a trademark on Mandrake the Magician.
Update MandrakeSoft can use the logo during appeals, which may take up to 3 years. You can now read their official statement on the ruling.
Seems to be all the rage lately.
Lothar: "Damn! Mandrake(c), that's as amazing as when Asterix kicked Mobilix in the ass!"
Narda: "Oh, Mandrake(c), take me now!"
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Creepy stuff, hope MS doesn't make me change my name from Bob to Blob
Man-----?
"If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
And here's the same passage translated by google from French to German to English to Italian to English:
Mandrake must for the change of name of Mandrake, is the French publisher of the distribution of Linux of eponyme pouring itself condemned from the TGI from Paris, 70.000? in the societies Hearst Americans to obtain the thing and owner of the king Fearture Syndicate of the indication "Mandrake magicien" and Herausgeberin of the pulled volume of the same name. These the posterior one had transported the claim in France for "the indication exclusion". Especially the court pribisce to the use of the relative name to the French and presses Mandrake that transfers the relati to you names of zone towards the two societies Americans. A judgment, in a position to transporting a mortal blow them to the French publisher, the relative good will on the relative distribution of eponyme is only based. For the l?heure Mandrake it has made the appointment, that it suspends the judgment and that therefore the relative indication maintains and relative to the zone names. Memories to on qu?un that the judgment preceding - that interests the brand - determines for the two societies Americans. The French has already had to still examine the relative copy.
Other suggestions: Find someone with a surname of Houdini to endorse the project...
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
That's nothing. Imagine the mixed feelings some of us would have if this guy and Washington Post Writers Group sued Linux distros and Linus over the penguin. Or the estate of Charles M. Schulz sued over the name 'Linus' and confusion with 'Linux'. Yeah, SCO is going down, but these cartoon characters are represent a serious threat.
"Where's the Kaboom? There's supposed to be an earthshattering Kaboom!"
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I made that sound over a toilet once after drinking too much goldschalger.
The World's Worst Webcomic!
Although, I should warn you, I just patented the procedure of resolving copyright issues by changing the suffix of a product to "fox".
Look at their current logo. (The topic icon.) Notice the little "magic" star and spark thingy. Notice a theme? Magic, maybe?
Take a look at their old logo. Compare with this image of Mandrake the Magician. Notice any similarities? Other than the penguin, it's basically the same thing - including the cape and wand! Although Mandrake the Magician doesn't have a big ugly star, and the cape is blue and not red.
It seems quite clear that Mandrake Linux intended to rip off Mandrake the Magician's look and name. It seems very clear to me that Mandrake Linux is in the wrong and will need to change their name. It's obvious they knew about Mandrake the Magician - they copied him for their original logo!
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.