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Red Hat Founder Offers Help in Apple vs.Tiger Lawsuit
Art Vanderlay writes "Robert F. Young, a founder of Linux distributor Red Hat and now owner
of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Canadian football team, has offered Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs a
quick way out of a lawsuit by TigerDirect over the latest version of
Tiger. According to the Globe and Mail, Mr. Young
has offered to license the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' historical use of the
word Tiger to Apple free of charge. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have
been around since 1869. '136 years ago we were called The Tigers,' Mr.
Young said. 'If anyone owns the exclusive rights to the word tiger
with that much history and tradition, it's gotta be us.'"
A trademark used in one indstry has nothing to do with a trademark used in another industry; this is how Apple Computers can call itself "Apple", much to the displeasure of Apple Record Label. I highly doubt that a trademark infringment suit brougt by the Tiger-Cats against Tiger Direct will get anywhere. (How the former World Wrestling Foundation lost the rights to WWF stumps the shit out of me.) IMHO Apple is in the wrong on this.
Trademark is generally only relevant for trade done in a specific domain - so usage of Tiger for a football franchise won't disallow another company to use football as a software reseller.
Where Apple potentially gets in trouble is that there is a company that is a software reseller that is doing business under the trademark of Tiger. Whether Apples line of business and Tiger Direct are closely enough related that the courts would disallow Apples usage of the trademark is unclear.
LetterRip
Has anyone tracked down this mysterious registration, or is TigerDirect merely claiming that their use of the mark precedes Apple's?
c fhosb.2.21.
Actually it is TigerDirect's parent company Systemax that has the trademark registered, see here:
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
It's not like Apple's changing its name to Tiger. It's just a code name for the CURRENT REV of their OS. It's gonna last, what, 8 months? Then it'll be some other big cat.
BFD
You're looking for quotes? See my journal.
In fact, Apple got in trouble in the 70s when they first used the word and had to agree that Apple (computer company) would not get into the business of Apple ( music company). Of course, Apple (music company) cried foul recently over iTunes....
So, you can see cross-industry trademarks DO have to be negotiated.
Thanks for the link.
I took the liberty of noting that TD's mark is for: Mail order catalog services featuring computers and computer related products; and Retail store services featuring computers and computer related products.
Now, to pick a random operating system, the MS Windows trademark is for: G & S: computers and components therefor, computer peripherals, and computer programs in the field of graphical applications, and manuals therefor sold as a unit.
Interesting how they expect the Tiger OS to conflict with the mail-order business.
1. This is not PR, it's making fun of Apple.
2. Mr. Young is not acting as Red Hat, but rather as the owner of a football team.
Anything is possible given time and money.
This is a bit offtopic, but I'd advise everyone to avoid doing business with TigerDirect. I ordered the parts for my current computer from them and a great number of them didn't work properly. Worse, most of the warranties are "in-kind;" i.e. "Your RAM doesn't work? That's okay, send it back and we'll send you more RAM that doesn't work."
I also had to go out and buy a USB mouse because if I plug in devices in both PS/2 ports the computer won't boot properly, and the SATA hard drive I bought from them worked for all of two days before breaking.
None of these are compatibility issues, by the way; I replaced the defective Tiger parts with the same brand parts from a reputable local store (where they were more expensive) and the computer worked. The reason Tiger's prices are so low is that they sell factory seconds, meaning parts which didn't pass the company's quality inspection, so most of the stuff you buy from TigerDirect is non-functioning.
I used to read Caltizzle. I was a lot cooler than you.
Let's see:
Tiger's Eye the golf course opened in 2000, at the zenith of Woods' first great run. So it wasn't there 'way before Tiger Woods became Tiger Woods'.
Also, a fairly thorough Google search of "Tiger Woods" with "Tiger's Eye" alone or along with "lawsuit", "dispute", "pro shop", "Nike", etc., turns up nothing. In contrast, Woods' dispute with an artist, a yacht company, and an advertising company all jump right out.
So, unless you can provide a link, I call bullshit.
This reminds me of the famous McDonalds name incident from some years back, where McDonalds tried to force a restaurant named McMunchies to change it's name. That's when Lord MacDonald of the Clan Donald got into the act. Quoting from a press release at http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/clandonald_ jan97.html:
Lord Macdonald of Macdonald, premier clan chief of Clan Donald, has appointed Ronald W McDonald to be Sergeant-Major at Arms of the Guardians of Clan Donald: the linear descendant of the chief's bodyguard. It will be open to all Macdonalds and their septs, dependents, and descendants, who are in good standing in the community. Successful applicants will be enlisted as Sergeants at Arms and issued with a Warrant in the form of a Certificate which is suitable for framing. The cost of membership is £1 (postal orders please) or £2 sterling for overseas applicants.
Needless to say, history was on their side even more than it was with the Tiger name here. If you don't use an original name, don't expect to be protected like an original name.
It's not possible to Google bomb on Slashdot - all comments have rel="nofollow" added. Thanks for playing, though.