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Dept. of Homeland Security Enforces Expired Patent
Fouquet writes "Apparently the Department of Homeland Security does not have enough to do in keeping the US safe, and now is enforcing copyright law as well. The AP reports that a toy store owner in Oregon was requested by Homeland Security officials to remove a potentially copyright-infringing Rubik's cube-like toy from her shelves. The patent for Rubik's cube was issued in 1980, and so it is expired."
Customs is part of Homeland Security and customs has been enforcing these laws for as long as I can remember. These are imported goods.
It's probably a typical case of government spending. If you don't spend the funds allocated to you this year, you don't have them next year. This perpetuates so much government waste. So they probably ran out of leads on terrorist cells and went after this person so they have a reason to request another million dollars in extra funding next year.
What makes this so sad is that slowly the terrorists are winning. I don't mean that as a joke. Their goal seems to have been to make our lives as shitty as theirs and they're are making progress.
And no, John Kerry in office isn't going to change anything because you still have Republicans in the house and senate. And yes, I am a Republican and no I don't agree with everything that they do.
Trademarks don't expire. Trademark, copyright, and patent are entirely different things. Reading the summary you can't tell which of these areas of law was involved and you get the impression that the action was taken on expired IP.
The article states that the action was taken on the basis of a trademark. With a name like "Magic Cube" if the toy is anything at all like a Rubic's Cube then it almost certainly does infringe on the Rubic's Cube trademark.
And why all the fake wonderment about the department of Homeland Security handling the case? In case anyone missed the press release the department is not some niche organisation that deals specifically with terrorism. It's a big tarball of a whole bunch of departments and old law enforcement angencies that used to deal with all manner of federal law enforcement issues. They do lots of things besides deal with terrorism.
Patents expire. Copyrights nominally expire, but even if they don't you can make other stuff that does the same thing from scratch (unlike patents). Trademarks never expire, but they're only supposed to be for names/designs/similar. (Supposed.)
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
These are US Customs agents. Customs agents enforce, among other things, import regulations against counterfiet goods.
The Customs Service is now part of Homeland Security. Ergo, DHS agents were the ones who investigated this incident.
(This is cut and pasted from below. It should be near the top... or in the summary)
Here's the post from google's cache that prompted the secret service-- get it while it's still hot.
From the post:
Please kill George Bush. I hate him so much. I think he is a giant dick and I want terrible things to happen to him. I'm not really big on the specifics of how he dies, but if you could at least arrange it so that the authorities find his dead body on top of an underage black male prostitute surrounded by a mountain of cocaine and child pornography, that would really be super-awesome. And maybe you could have some media people there when the police find the body, so they can take pictures and stuff. That'd be fucking GREAT.
I can see why the Secret Service would want to visit someone after they say something like that.. (sure, context weakens it a bit, but it is borderline nutty and definitely can be construed as a threat against the president.)
actually trademarks do expire, but only once they fall into disuse, or go undefended, unlike patent and copyright which is a fixed time.
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
a prayer for dubya
Dear God:
Wassup? How's it hanging? Yeah, I know it's been a long time since we talked. This probably stems from my belief that you do not exist. Anyway, the reason why I'm calling you is because last night, President Bush said that he could feel it every time we prayed for him, and since he apparently doesn't listen to anyone but you, Lord, I thought you might pass this along to him.
If you do a little research on the web, you can find this page, which explains that such work is the
responsibility of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a part of the Department of Homeland Security. They received a trademark infringement complaint, and they followed up on the complaint. That's their job. Why are you getting your knickers in a bunch because some federal agents are doing their job? Nowhere does the inflammatory and poorly written article suggest that they accused the store owner of being a terrorist. Get a grip.
Guns don't kill people -- people kill people.
But the guns seem to help a bit. (apologies to Eddie Izzard)
Yup, it's the customs agents who are responsible for trademark violations for imported goods. Not sure who if the goods are domestic, which is the case here.
The problem here is the agents didn't do their homework. They MERELY ACCEPTED THE COMPLAINT ON FACE VALUE. This makes the agents look stupid.
If they'd done their homework, they'd know that the only potentially valid claim is a trademark claim, and in order to be clear-cut, they'd have to be something so close to "Rubik's Cube" as to cause confusion. If they'd been misspelled as "Rubick's Cubes" or even "Rubick's Boxes" I could see the feds having a case, but "Magic Cube" has no confusion. The "Cube" part is "merely descriptive" and not worthy of protection.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Your job is to read the article. You didn't do so, because if you did you'd know that no trademark was infringed, and the patent's already expired.
... the Magic Cube did not infringe on the rival toy's trademark." Of course the manufacturer said that. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the owners of the trademark who filed the complaint obviously disagree.
Which article did you read?
The article said, "...Agents went to Pufferbelly based on a trademark infringement complaint...." So, this is a trademark issue -- the patent expiration is irrelevant. It also said, "A representative [of Magic Cube's manufacturer] told her that
Please U[understand]TFA before you tell me to RTFA.
The only evidence the article presents that no trademark was infringed is "a representative" of the manufacturer, via hearsay testimony from the owner of the store, both of whom presumably have some interest in claiming not to be breaking the trademark.
Unfortunately, the only evidence the article presents that a trademark was infringed was a spokesperson for DHS stating there was a complaint. There is a lot we don't know - it's quite possible the Magic Cube does infringe on Rubik's trademark. Contrary to the title of the
But, beyond that, nowhere in the article does it say Rubik was the one complaining. People just jumped to that conclusion. There is a live trademark on "Magic Cube" for a "manipulative puzzle" filed in December, 2001 by Atico, International. It would seem reasonable to me that Toysmith's product violates this trademark. There is no information in the AP article to conclude "no trademark was infringed," in fact the reporter seems to have done no research at all but calling DHS and the toy store operator. It's a terribly done article that is mostly about how weird it is that the people who enforce trademarks now work for DHS. But that's hardly new or news.
Can I point out two things?
Here's a clue boy: go get yourself an education, you seem to need it.
Mart"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
Imagine you get a speeding ticket. You follow 'due process' and fight the ticket. Let's say you win (I have done this). You will be made to pay court costs, which are probably as much as the ticket. If you lose, the fine will be outrageous and the judge might slap community service or some incarceration atop of that if you piss him off too much.
That ticket is just a cop telling you he accuses you of doing this. The DHS people were doing the same thing. If they want to fight it, go to court. Expect to pay a lot of money and really be screwed if you lose, though.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
>>95% of shipping containers coming into this country aren't being inspected, yet we have law enforcement agents to spare... Ok wait just a minute. I am sick and tired of the left making that statement. As a former Coast Guardsman I can speak to this issue with authority. Do you have any idea how many "shipping containers" come into this country? Millions my friend - millions. There is a system and always has been for what needs inspected just like your local town cops have for what to look for for drunk drivers late at night or suspect vehicles and so on. I guarentee you that at least 95% of all cars driving through town late at night or from bars also are not inspected. So you see that statement is just a scare tactic, it has no helium in its balloon. The suppossed 5% that are getting inspected do so because they meet certain guidelines that are used to weed through it all! It would take absolutely millions of people to inspect them all! The CG has less than 50,000! Most of which are E3 and below who do grunt work, havn't been sent to the LE school yet, or hazmat school and so on. Get some facts before you continue to spew Kerry's unqualified quotes like that. And yes Bush has some whoppers he spews out over and over so I aint letting him off the hook either it's just this one is a whopper that people are completely ignorant about how it works. It should show you how stupid Kerry thinks the American people are that we'd fall for this scare tactic.
This is part of the Cornerstone Initiative, "Protecting the Homeland through Economic Security". Their site is "being revised", but their newsletter lists what they're up to.
2/25/03 - Venezuela - 2 bombs explode simultaneously at spanish and columbian embassies. 1 Columbian and 3 Venezualans killed.
3/4/03 - Philippines - bomb explodes at airport. 21 killed, 149 injured.
3/20/03 - Lebanon - bomb explodes in apartment building. 2 killed, 9 wounded.
3/22/03 - Greece - bomb explodes at ATM.
3/24/03 - India - 11 men, 11 women, and 2 boys shot execution style by armed militants
3/25/03 - Serbia - 4 bomb attacks on UN interim administration
3/26/03 - Chile - bomb explodes at bank
3/29/03 - Greece - hand grenade tossed into a McDonalds
3/31/03 - Cuba - plane carrying 46 passengers hijacked
4/2/03 - Philippines - bomb explodes on passanger warf. 16 killed, 55 wounded.
4/5/03 - Lebanon - two bombs explode at restaurant. 10 wounded. undetonated C-4, TNT, and gas containers found.
4/8/03 - Algeria - 1 Swede and Dutch citizen kidnapped
4/11/03 - Algeria - 2 Austrians kidnapped
4/12/03 - India - multiple grenade attacks kill 1, wound 43.
4/12/03 - Venezuala - C-4 bomb explodes at OAS office
4/14/03 - France - militants set fire to car and destroy restaurant
4/15/03 - Turkey - bombs explode at 2 different McDonalds. 1 injured.
4/22/03 - India - bomb explodes at dairy. 6 killed, 12 wounded.
4/25/03 - India - bomb explodes at courthouse. 3 killed, 34 wounded.
5/5/03 - India - bomb and grenade attacks kill 1, injure 26.
5/16/03 - Morocco - 5 bombs explode simultaneously damaging Belgian consulate. 33 killed, 101 wounded.
6/4/03 - Belgium - Letters found containing the nerve agent adamsite. 10 hospitalized.
6/9/03 - Peru - 71 workers of an Argentine company kidnapped
6/17/03 - Italy - bomb explodes in front of spanish school
6/18/03 - France - militants destroy 2 villas with bomb blasts
6/26/03 - Kenya - aid workers attacked with hand grenades
7/3/03 - Columbia - 5 swiss citizens kidnapped
8/5/03 - Indonesia - bomb explodes in front of hotel 12 killed 149 wounded. Al-Qaida claims responsibility.
8/8/03 - Spain - mail bomb sent to Greek consulate
10/5/03 - Malaysia - 3 Indonesians and 2 Filipinos kidnapped. 1 escaped, 4 found executed.
11/11/03 - Greece - bomb found outside bank
I don't know about US law, but in the UK, trespass goes from being a simple civil offence to a full-blown criminal offence once you start disrupting a lawful activity {Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 s.61, from memory}.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Please try to keep the three concepts apart. One thing is clear: the DHS should have no business enforcing any of them.
Of course, what else would you expect from the likes of an Associated Press reporter?
A little research turns up the fact that not only has Seven Towns Limited trademarked Rubik and Rubik's Cube, they have trademarked its appearance. You might want to check out this, this, and this before continuing your sophistry. Realizing that one might actually have to search a bit on the last referenced page to find the relevant commentary, I'll post it here:
So it turns out that the Customs agents knew their job and were doing their job, just as I stated. I'm sorry if you don't like the facts.Guns don't kill people -- people kill people.
But the guns seem to help a bit. (apologies to Eddie Izzard)
I think you are the one who needs to do some cursory research before jumping to inaccurate conclusions and flaming professionals who are competently performing their jobs.
Guns don't kill people -- people kill people.
But the guns seem to help a bit. (apologies to Eddie Izzard)
Huh? Someone sets fire to a car in a "difficult suburb" (read ghetto) and all of a sudden it's "militants"?
From the Reuters report:
Watch this Heartland Institute video
Yes, they can. I usd to own a store, and specifically had a lawyer look up the relevant laws because I was having trouble with a disruptive "patron" coming in frequently.
Now everybody's equal, just don't measure it. -Bad Religion
Definitely my award for worst slashdot writeup And that's saying a LOT.
A Rubik's cube can't be copyrighted - there's no text. The INSTRUCTIONS could be...
A trademark on it could be valid - but only if it was confusingly similar - ie, if a reasonable person buying it might THINK they were buying a Rubik's cube, or something from the same company.
The patent is apparently expired, at least if can trust the article. Which we can't.
Patent law != copyright law != trademark law != trade secret law. THEY ARE ALL TOTALLY SEPERATE.
*sigh*
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