Imminent Mandrake Name Change?

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Imminent Mandrake Name Change?

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday February 19, 2004 @07:18AM from the geoff-will-be-so-happy dept.

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.

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come on! by Chuck+Bucket · 2004-02-19 07:19 · Score: 5, Insightful

this is getting ridiculous! I don't really love the name Firefox, but at least Mozilla went to the trouble of Trademarking the name before announcing and using it. this should be a wake-up call to ANYONE starting a company or software project; do your homework before settling on a name.

CB

--
free ipod and free gmail!
1. Re:come on! by Hittite+Creosote · 2004-02-19 07:25 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  do your homework before settling on a name
  
  Uh... from my apalling understanding of French and the not much better automatic translators, I get the distinct impression this isn't another software company claiming the name. This is a cartoon strip. And it appears the owners of the copyright are claiming complete and exclusive use of the name of a plant, which has been used for centuries.
2. Re:come on! by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-19 07:27 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Yeah, anyone starting a software project online better run trademark searches in all 200+ countries because one of them might have some little company just waiting to sue you.
  
  While you're at it, better make sure that you check all the trademarks for all the products, in case you run into someone in some IP-backwater country who hasn't been brought into the modern age of realistic trademark protection (ie, based on product confusion). Really, who is going to confuse Mandrake the Linux Distribution with Mandrake the Magician?
  
  Next thing you know, Linux will be forced to change its name because someone's great, great, great grandfather in Lubineria trademarked "linux" as a brand of horseshoe and there trademarks never expire.
3. Re:come on! by stratjakt · 2004-02-19 07:46 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Yeah, anyone starting a software project online better run trademark searches in all 200+ countries because one of them might have some little company just waiting to sue you
  
  In all the countries you plan to do business in, you absolutely should.
  
  --
  I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
4. Re:come on! by dameron · 2004-02-19 07:56 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  And it appears the owners of the copyright are claiming complete and exclusive use of the name of a plant, which has been used for centuries.
  And it's plant that has a long "magical" (actually occult) tradition in many parts of the world because it tends to grow in the shape of a man. History of mandrake root. Their claim to the word "mandrake" as it relates to magic is wrong. If they're arguing that the association of the word "mandrake" with a cartoon penguin dressed up as a magician violates their trademark on their cartoon magician they may have a slightly better point.
  
  -dameron
5. Re:come on! by d34thm0nk3y · 2004-02-19 08:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  no kidding, do the research for the countries you want to do business in and push that little button on your web server to not allow access from any country other than the ones you want.....oh wait....
Not the only use of that word by Just+Some+Guy · 2004-02-19 07:23 · Score: 4, Insightful

So, do they also own the trademark on mandrake, the plant? Why can't Mandrake-the-Linux-company claim that they're named after the root long thought of as magical by certain cultures?

--
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Re:Why not Gandalf? by Wireless+Joe · 2004-02-19 07:25 · Score: 1, Insightful

Hmmmm...Mumfordrake?

"A-la Peanut butter Sandwiches!"
It's ridiculous. by stratjakt · 2004-02-19 07:31 · Score: 3, Insightful

Mandrake, Lindows... Both for profit corporations, both trying to make money.

Why not a little investment in a trademark/copyright search before they pick a name?

I mean, is this a "we're too cheap" or a "we dont believe in IP! down with the man!" issue?

We recently named a new product where I work. We rejected the first name we chose after a trademark search turned something else up.

Or do they just set up a situation where this will happen, so they can cry "boo hoo hoo look at these evil corporate bastards?"

MSFT/King Features don't have a choice, really, they have to defend their trademarks, else lose them.

--
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Re:Remember Mobilix? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-19 07:31 · Score: 5, Insightful

Does it really matter?

A cartoon is not competing in the same field of business as an operating system. You typically own the trademark of a name (what does copyright have to do with this anyway?) for a specific field of business.

For instance, Ford would be automative-related, but they couldn't sue over the name "Ford Prefect" being used in a science-fiction book that has nothign to do with the automotive industry.
Re:new name by The+Evil+Couch · 2004-02-19 07:32 · Score: 2, Insightful

I've got a better idea. keep the name. stop marketing it in france.
I don't know much about copyright law, but I'd assume that a tit-for-tat move would work much better than mandrake trashing their name-recognition for the sake of some weirdo judge who wants to uphold an old, relatively obscure copyright.

--
The World's Worst Webcomic!
Interesting by DoubleD · 2004-02-19 07:32 · Score: 5, Insightful
Dictionary.com definition

mandrake ( P ) Pronunciation Key (mndrk)
n.
1. A southern European plant (Mandragora officinarum) having greenish-yellow flowers and a branched root. This plant was once believed to have magical powers because its root resembles the human body.
2. The root of this plant, which contains the poisonous alkaloid hyoscyamine. Also called mandragora.
Granted I know nothing of copyright law in France: but wouldn't this case also be related to that old decision between Apple Computer and Apple Record Company? Two separate buisinesses could both hold the same trademark in different arenas. Also it involves trademarking a common word such as the current lawsuit between Microsoft and Lindows.

All in all it seems like a pretty stupid decision by the Court.
--
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose."
1. Re:Interesting by DoubleD · 2004-02-19 09:09 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  A decision by a French Court in favor of an American company, King Features Syndicate, against Mandrake, for using an English word that just happends to also be a name for a comic strip is stupid and I stand by that assertion ;).
  
  For instance if Mandrake had been named Beetle (a la Beetle Bailey, another King Features Syndicate comic) would a lawsuit in any country where English is not the primary language be fair and just?
  
  Again I reiterate I know this is a French court and I know nothing of French trademark law, as such my judgement of stupidity is based on the lack of common sense present in the decision.
  
  --
  "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose."
Domain names only? by donutz · 2004-02-19 07:37 · Score: 4, Insightful

Based on a reading of the article, maybe Mandrake is only going to have to transfer domain name(s). Like Mandrake.com, and not rename the company altogether. The article is kinda sparse on those kind of details.
WTH?? by Azureflare · 2004-02-19 07:37 · Score: 2, Insightful

Who the hell is Mandrake the Wizard?? I live in the U.S. and I've NEVER heard of such a thing. This is the most ridiculous trademark case I've ever seen. How does a character from some fantasy story relate to a linux product? How could people possibly confuse the two?
More importantly, why is the name Mandrake, originally applied to a plant, trademarkable? That'd be like saying I can't name a distro "Willow" because there's a movie called "Willow." Or maybe I just have no idea what trademarks are all about (I'll admit I'm pretty ignorant about such things).
Re:So what's French by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-19 07:38 · Score: 1, Insightful

Better a Frenchman than a Yank.
Then how about by Bendebecker · 2004-02-19 07:44 · Score: 4, Insightful

They name it Nightshade? Mandrake is part of the family of nightshade plants, so that would not only seem appropraite but a promotion.

--
There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
most of us won't be able to afford it.
-- Lemmy
Re:Remember Mobilix? by MoonBuggy · 2004-02-19 08:39 · Score: 2, Insightful

You could argue, however, that Ford Prefect's name is a work of parody and therefore protected speech whereas Mandrake OS is not. [/devil's advocate]
Ok, explain this to me... by Lispy · 2004-02-19 09:13 · Score: 5, Insightful

There is a company named Microsoft, wich is perfectly fine for me, producing a whole range of straight named apps such as
- Windows
- Outlook
- Word
- Explorer
- and so on...

but if you pick an uncommon, creative name such as Phoenix, Mandrake, or Lindows (yeah, it's not original but it's more of a brandname than a plain word as Windows) you get sued all over the place. What is wrong here? Maybe one should simply name products the easy way:
- Desk (a GUI)
- Play (a Musicplayer for Linux)
- Surf (A Webbrowser)
- Paint (A graphical....DuH!)

cu,
Lispy