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Pokemon Gene Renamed Under Legal Threat

Posted by Zonk on from the tumor-i-choose-you dept.

Gamasutra reports that the 'Pokemon' cancer-causing gene has been renamed after legal threats were made by Pokemon USA. From the article: "Scientific journal Nature reported that Pokémon USA, the subsidiary company of Nintendo established to control the Pokémon brand in America, threatened to sue the cancer research center on the understandable grounds that equating Pokémon with cancer was doing harm to the brand's image. Sloan-Kettering acquiesced to the company's demands and changed the gene's name to the more unobtrusive Zbtb7."

69 comments

  1. COMPROMISE! by mister_llah · · Score: 4, Funny

    Call it Zbbt-achu!

    --
    MoM++ - A Classic Expanded - [Master of Magic 1.5]
    http://mompp.sourceforge.net/
    1. Re:COMPROMISE! by Alsee · · Score: 1

      Gesundheit!

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  2. Why was it.. by RaNdOm+OuTpUt · · Score: 1

    ..called "Pokemon" in the first place. FP?

    --
    13. Any legal action is absolutly excluded. (Pi World Ranking List rules)
    1. Re:Why was it.. by kernelfoobar · · Score: 5, Informative

      FTFA: "The gene, which has the formal name of POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic gene, was previously abbreviated as POKEMON,"

      --
      Here we go again!
    2. Re:Why was it.. by BushCheney08 · · Score: 1

      I dunno. I think they should've just called it POKEMOG.

      --
      Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
    3. Re:Why was it.. by TerminalInsanity · · Score: 1

      and infringe on nintendo's AND squaresoft's rights?!

  3. It's a slow news day everywhere, it seems. by Sockatume · · Score: 3, Funny

    Researchers jokingly name gene after franchise. Franchise owners ask that they change it. Researchers change it. STOP THE PRESSES! [/sarcasm]. Yeah, I'm cranky. Caffiene withdrawal.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    1. Re:It's a slow news day everywhere, it seems. by antdude · · Score: 1

      It's Christmas time, that's why. Be jolly! :)

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  4. Slow news by Darius+Jedburgh · · Score: 1
    That's nothing. RTFA and you'll see what has got to be one of the most tenuous segues I have ever seen in an attempt to stretch the article by another paragraph.
    The incident is not the first time Pokémon has been linked to health concerns
    1. Re:Slow news by Babbster · · Score: 1

      Tenous? That's near libelous unless the gene formerly known as Pokemon had some actual connection to the videogame, cartoon, playing cards, etc.

  5. Change the name by baywulf · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Change the name of the gene to "ButtheadVideoGameCompany"

    1. Re:Change the name by BushCheney08 · · Score: 1

      Hehehehe. Well said. Maybe they should call it the Carl Sagan gene. I mean, what's he gonna do about it now?

      --
      Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
  6. Cancermon! by Bahumat · · Score: 2, Funny

    /obligatory

    Cancermon! I choose you!

    --
    "To pass through the jungle; silence, courtesy, ferocity, as the occasion demands." -- Kamau, "Proper Passage"
    1. Re:Cancermon! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly how was that obligatory?

    2. Re:Cancermon! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      It's the obligitory senseless post

  7. photosensitive epilepsy by b1t+r0t · · Score: 3, Insightful
    However, further recent warnings on these Pokemon-related health problems have been tempered by the fact that Southern Medical Journal researchers discovered only a small fraction of the children treated were actually diagnosed with photosensitive epilepsy.

    Well, duuuuuuh. In the original case in Japan, after watching the Porygon episode, schoolkids were basically told "if you felt sick after watching that episode last night, you can go home right now." If you were a schoolkid, in Japan or elsewhere, what would you do? It doesn't take a Bart Simpson to jump at the chance to play hooky and get away with it.

    --

    --
    "Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
    "Open source is evil." - Microsoft
    1. Re:photosensitive epilepsy by rohlfinator · · Score: 1

      Huzzah-what?!?

      Japanese kids watch Pokemon in school?? I thought they were supposed to be better educated than us!

  8. The obvious reasons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The obvious reasons why Nintendo did this are:

    1) Pokemon is a trademark; if you allow anyone to use a trademark for any reason you risk loosing the trademark because it can become a generic term.

    2) The 'Pokemon' gene could cause a negative image of pokemon "my mother died of cancer because she caried the 'Pokemon-gene'!"

    1. Re:The obvious reasons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      1) Pokemon is a trademark; if you allow anyone to use a trademark for any reason you risk loosing the trademark because it can become a generic term.

      Ref. Miller's Daughter the Queen v. Rumplestiltskin ?

    2. Re:The obvious reasons by damsa · · Score: 1

      Pokemon is sort of a generic term already. It is an abbreviation or if you will a mashup of Pocket Monsters.

    3. Re:The obvious reasons by booch · · Score: 2, Insightful

      if you allow anyone to use a trademark for any reason you risk loosing the trademark because it can become a generic term

      Not true. There has to be a likelihood of confusion or deception. But your reason number 2 may be valid. It's a grey area though -- whether just because it's a gene associated with cancer is enough to turn the case in Nintendo's favor is questionable. The added "fame" of the Pokemon trademark might be enough to throw the case into their favor though.

      --
      Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
    4. Re:The obvious reasons by Caspian · · Score: 1, Offtopic
      if you allow anyone to use a trademark for any reason you risk loosing the trademark

      LOSE is the opposite of GAIN.
      LOOSE is the opposite of TIGHT.

      You learned this in school, motherfucker. GET IT RIGHT.

      I'm really losing patience with this sort of shit, due to seeing the same moronic mistakes made over and over. How many goddamned times do people on SlashDot need to point out the difference between "lose" and "loose", or the difference between "it's" and "its", or the fact that "its'" (note trailing apostrophe) isn't a word (cromulent or otherwise), before people remember the basic shit they learned in school and get it right?

      And to the mods reading this with your downmod trigger fingers itching: Go ahead, assholes, I can't stop you anyhow. But my point still stands. WE ALL LEARNED THIS SHIT IN SCHOOL. (SlashDotters raised in non-English-speaking nations are hereby exempted.) It's NOT hard, and an inability to get these very simple things right-- when the same few mistakes are constantly pointed out here on SlashDot-- just makes you look like a fucking retard.

      Pointing this out doesn't make me a pedant, it makes me someone who takes pride in my ability to converse in my native tongue. Spare me the "wow, you need to get laid" comments.
      --
      With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
    5. Re:The obvious reasons by OneWingedgAmer · · Score: 1

      Good point. I don't mind abbreviations or intentional misspellings or slang or anything, but you'd think people would be smart enough to spell commonly used, everyday words correctly. My general philosophy is if you can read, you can spell...and if someone can't read, it makes you wonder what they're doing on SlashDot in the first place.

      --
      "Once I saw a forklift lift a crate of forks.... it was so damn literal." -Mitch Hedberg
    6. Re:The obvious reasons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, use <strong></strong>, not <b>old</b> when you want to speak strongly. The former describes your intent; the latter only describes presentation.

      Points though for managing to spell "tongue" correctly.

    7. Re:The obvious reasons by Caspian · · Score: 1
      My general philosophy is if you can read, you can spell...and if someone can't read, it makes you wonder what they're doing on SlashDot in the first place.

      Probably goofing off on their job, which probably has something to do with Windows. Unix people, in general, seem to be MUCH more linguistically oriented. This isn't trolling, it's the truth. Unix's command-line-heavy nature means that to be truly proficient at operating Unix, you must by necessity be proficient at manipulating large strings of text. This, of course, ties in nicely with proficiency in writing. Whole essays have been written about this topic. I read one particularly nice one, but was unable to find it via a quick Google search.

      In technical circles, most of the fucking morons constantly getting "it's"/"its", "lose"/"loose", and the like wrong are Windows people. The Unix nerds all write in a nearly impeccable manner. The point-n-click jockeys simply don't have to deal with language as frequently or intensely as the command-line dinosaurs.
      --
      With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
    8. Re:The obvious reasons by Caspian · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry if my rant wasn't "blind-friendly".

      --
      With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
    9. Re:The obvious reasons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed, and there's something else one could refer to as a "pocket monster", but you wouldn't want children playing with it.

    10. Re:The obvious reasons by oldwolf13 · · Score: 1

      Wow..

      das Fuhrer of grammar nazi's. /me goose steps.

      --
      If I can't smoke and swear I'm fucked.
    11. Re:The obvious reasons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So are you claiming that you've never produced a typo before?
      That on a web forum, where nearly no one actually even bothers to create comments using correct grammer or spelling, you're highly concerned that your sentences are correctly spelled?

      You do realize that Mother Fucker is 2 words, one of which is not gramatically correct because it is a slang curse word?

      You do recognize that Capital leters are only gramatically correct when used at the begining of a sentence or when used at the begining of a Noun?

      For someone who is being very insulting you've made some very obvious errors yourself; maybe you should return to high-school and take remedial english.

    12. Re:The obvious reasons by Caspian · · Score: 1
      So are you claiming that you've never produced a typo before?
      No, I'm not. However, the problem I was referring to was almost certainly not a typo. It was a symptom of a genuine inability to distinguish between "lose" and "loose".
      That on a web forum, where nearly no one actually even bothers to create comments using correct grammer or spelling, you're highly concerned that your sentences are correctly spelled?
      What's "grammer"?

      You do realize that Mother Fucker is 2 words, one of which is not gramatically correct because it is a slang curse word?
      Um, what sort of crack are you smoking? It's in the dictionary, motherfucker. Also, since when is all slang automatically ungrammatical? Is "bit bucket" a grammatical error? How about "hanging chad"?

      You do recognize that Capital leters are only gramatically correct when used at the begining of a sentence or when used at the begining of a Noun?
      You're German, right? No, we don't capitalize all nouns in English, only the proper nouns. Also, "letters" is spelled "letters", and in a textual medium it is acceptable to use capital letters to simulate yelling. LIKE THIS.
      For someone who is being very insulting you've made some very obvious errors yourself; maybe you should return to high-school and take remedial english.
      It's "English", and nice troll. Actually, scratch that-- you're a pretty piss-poor troll.
      --
      With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
    13. Re:The obvious reasons by Supurcell · · Score: 1
      Indeed, and there's something else one could refer to as a "pocket monster", but you wouldn't want children playing with it.


      Speak for yourself!
    14. Re:The obvious reasons by rsidd · · Score: 1

      "Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer." -- Edgser W. Dijkstra

    15. Re:The obvious reasons by Tezprice · · Score: 1
      How many goddamned times do people on SlashDot need to point out the difference between "lose" and "loose", or the difference between

      They don't need to point anything out, and neither do you, fuck off. People like you try my patience a lot more than people who type a simple spelling mistake. Some people don't have the time to check every bit of spelling or grammar, they aren't writing for distinction. I wonder if things like that actually keep you awake at night as you lie in a fit of rage because someone somewhere at any given moment is writing a. Sentence fragment.

    16. Re:The obvious reasons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      das Fuhrer of grammar nazi's. /me goose steps.

      That would be "der Fuhrer" and "Nazis", no apostrophe.

      Now get in the fucking oven.

  9. Hmm.. by Gildersleeve · · Score: 1

    Wasn't there also a gene called 'Sonic Hedgehog' by the researchers? I don't recall anyone suing over that.

    1. Re:Hmm.. by chihiro · · Score: 1

      Sonic hedgehog is the name of a gene - it was named over a decade ago. It was called that because it was a new member of the 'hedgehog' family of genes. The only other gene name that has been changed after corporate intervention was a gene in the fruitfly that was called 'velcro' and was renamed 'puckered'. Fruitflies have a large number of whimsically named genes - my favourite (also a possible trademark violation) being 'Ken and Barbie' since flies lacking the gene have no external genitalia.

      --
      Memes don't exist. Spread the Word.
    2. Re:Hmm.. by BurntNickel · · Score: 3, Informative

      Here you go: Sonic Hedgehog.

      --
      And the knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them...
    3. Re:Hmm.. by the_humeister · · Score: 1

      Maybe the discoverers of Sonic Hedgehog didn't get sued because they were awarded the Nobel prize. Perhaps Sega felt that association with the Nobel prize was worth not suing.

    4. Re:Hmm.. by ls+-la · · Score: 1

      The "Sonic Hedgehog gene" is much less degrading than the "Pokémon Cancer-Causing gene".

      In short, it's not a carcinogene! (sorry, I had to)

  10. Harm to the brand's image? by meanfriend · · Score: 2, Funny

    So naming a gene whose function that one in a thousand people couldnt even begin to describe is harming their image, but blackening the skies with lawyers over what most people would consider a non-issue doesnt?

    Nintendo should protect their brand, but come on. This 'intrusion' on thier namespace is pretty obscure. It's not as if the research facility is using the name to get grants or sell drugs.

    Personally I think it's cool. There is actually a gene named after Sonic the hedgehoge that has a role in developmental biology. I'd think that companies would be amused that they are being recognized in important scientific work.

    Of course the researchers backed down. They have far more important things to spend their money on than defending pointless lawsuits. They should have renamed the gene NLCBMSMA (Nintendo Lawyers Can Bite My Shiny Metal Ass) or would they have been sued by Fox instead?

    1. Re:Harm to the brand's image? by despisethesun · · Score: 1

      There is actually a gene named after Sonic the hedgehoge that has a role in developmental biology. I'd think that companies would be amused that they are being recognized in important scientific work.

      And I'm sure Nintendo wouldn't have given a shit if not for the fact that this gene causes cancer.

      --
      This poo is cold.
    2. Re:Harm to the brand's image? by Pluvius · · Score: 1

      Uh... the sonic hedgehog gene is also believed to cause certain types of cancer, and congenital mutations of it lead to holoprosencephaly. Look it up.

      Rob

  11. Would this really be a bad thing? by aj1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think the brand is very much defined already. Let's face it, Kids are the main consumer of this type of game and I know of several demented middle schoolers who would love owning a game that has a gene that causes cancer named after it. The parents might be afraid the game could cause cancer, and that the two are linked; BUT having that fear would require the parents actually knowing which games their kids play, AND the name of that specific gene.

    Then again, I am probably not giving credit too the age of media sound bytes. I can see the headlines and one liner news stations now. "A new meaning to pocket monsters; Pokemon linked with cancer! Are your kids safe? More after the break."

  12. Funny... I thought... by voxel · · Score: 1

    They should of called the new cancer gene 'Microsoft'. Perhaps it resulted in very micro and very soft cancer lumps, surely they could get away with it.

    --
    Modesty is one of life's greatest attributes
  13. Objection your honor! by Puhase · · Score: 1

    So they took a cancer on society and made it more personal. I bet if there was Pokemon in my body, I would feel the same way about it as I do about Pokemon here in the "outside" world. I call that proper name choice.
    Just to clear the air, I did work at a Wizards of the Coast retail store during the Pokemon card craze. And yes, the word Pikachu or whatever now does induce vomiting.

    --
    I am and always will be a stereotype, because who in their right mind prefers mono?
  14. Good. by rainwalker · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Good, there's nothing more annoying when reading literature than genes given "cute" names by researchers trying to be funny. Name it after the function, so we don't have to keep looking it back up! I'm all for using the courts to force researchers to name genes properly, dammit!

    1. Re:Good. by shawb · · Score: 1

      what else would you call the POK Erythroid Myeloid ONtogenic gene? The POK family of genes is well established in oncology, and wasn't made up just to make the acronym work. Names like that are much easier to comprehend than ZBTB7, like it was changed to due to the litigation.

      --
      I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
  15. Damn Laywers by Deanasc · · Score: 1

    They should be honored that Pokemon was chosen as a name. Naming new and increasingly harder to find genes and protiens after cartoon or video game characters is a recent but honored tradition in the scientific community. A tradition very similar to the compas system of naming electrophoretic blots. The lawyers have demonstrated their lack of vision and absolute cluelessness for a culture they could live 100 lifetimes and still not understand. Don't believe me? Just ask Sonic Hedghog.

    --
    I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
    1. Re:Damn Laywers by Guppy06 · · Score: 2, Funny

      "They should be honored that Pokemon was chosen as a name."

      Dude! CANCER! Radiation! Chemotherapy! Dying bald kids! Their name would be tied to fewer deaths if somebody built the Pokemon Death Camp!

  16. Cartman suggests... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Chinpokomon

    KICKASS!

  17. WTF is Pokemon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like some gay porno to me!

  18. Legal threats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As I understand it, trademarks only protect your mark in a particular market. Since when are cancer genes remotely similar to kids toys? Where is the confusion here? Trademarks are supposed to protect consumers, not give ownership of words.

  19. And the name of the 451st Pokemon will be... by jZnat · · Score: 1

    Zbtb7!

    Now to add that to the checklist of Pokemon whose name is very hard or impossible to pronounce... Gotta love them Japanese folk.

    --
    'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
  20. they shoulda just said FU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and been like "Nintendo, you can fuck off, what are you gonna do, sue a CANCER research center, that will look REAL great"

    and then hit the presses that this research center is being pressured by nintendo, public opinion would be instantly on their side.

    it doesnt matter if this is a publicly funded lab or a 100billion dollar company owned one, it still is CANCER research.

  21. Gee big surprise. by CheechWizz · · Score: 2

    I know bashing companies who resort to threatening with legal action is the 'in' thing with the slashdot crowd but come on, this is a cancer causing gene we're talking about here. It's pretty reasonable that a company would'nt want it's product linked to that (however annoying that product may be).
    The scientists that came up with the abbreviation thought they were being smart & funny and Nintendo thought otherwise.
    It's not like their legal actions are threatening scientific progress or freedom of expression so it's not worth getting your panties in a bunch over this.

    1. Re:Gee big surprise. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Abbreviating "POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic" as pokemon is smart and funny? It sounds like plain old logic to me.

  22. Pokemon Company != Nintendo by jasonditz · · Score: 1

    Nintendo is part owner of the Pokemon company, but it is not a true subsidiary, it's a joint venture owned by Nintendo and several other companies who had ownership interest in some facet of the franchise.

  23. Eh by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    Ayds diet candy, anyone? Ayds diet chocolates help you lose wait. Get Ayds!

    If you get Ayds, you'll get lose weight and get slender!

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  24. No, the cat does not "got my tongue." by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    In Soviet Russia, cancer gene names YOU "Pokemon"!

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  25. ignorant schmucks by belg4mit · · Score: 1
    cancer research center on the understandable grounds that equating Pokémon with cancer was doing harm to the brand's image.


    Giving a "cute" name to an arbitrary gene is not equating the two.
    Is the trend of cutesy names a good idea? Probably not? Might joe
    six-pack not be able to differentiate between the two; using
    context or realizing that the world is not, in fact, black and white? Possibly.
    --
    Were that I say, pancakes?
  26. Only if... by jd · · Score: 1
    ...they then discover a "fair and balanced" gene which only existed in right-handed DNA.


    Seriously, though, trademarks (supposedly) only apply if you've sufficient overlap to create the possibility of genuine confusion. I believe the burger chain lost its case against the McDonald clan, for example, and Apple Computers only escaped because they didn't (at the time) overlap in any way with Apple Music.


    Furthermore, "pokemon" (which translates to Pocket Monster) might not even be a valid trademark. If there was a past history of the phrase in any form of "common usage", then it is a term in the public domain. I don't believe it matters how archaic the usage is. You probably couldn't run through a dictionary of pre-Imperial Roman words for objects and then trademark those exact objects with their corresponding words.


    Hmmm. That's a thought. Let's try that. Everyone on Slashdot should find a dozen archaic words and trademark them. One of two things could happen. Either the trademark namespace becomes so polluted, the entire system grinds to a halt and a saner system is introduced; or someone realizes that words and phrases in the public domain can't be trademarked anyway, and all the crap already in the trademark system is kicked out.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    1. Re:Only if... by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      So what you're saying is that the word "Pokémon" was used by our ancient ancestors?
      Just because it's a portmanteau of "pocket" and "monster" (the combination of which was rather unique at the time anyway), doesn't make it public domain.
      If it were, then pretty much EVERY trademark would be public domain.

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  27. Wark! Wark! by tepples · · Score: 1

    I think they should've just called it POKEMOG.

    So instead of Pidgey and Spearow, would it have Chocobo?

  28. -mon ending is from Digimon by tepples · · Score: 1

    Pokémon do not use the -mon suffix. You're thinking of Digimon. Did you mean "Kingler"?

  29. The original pocket monsters by tepples · · Score: 1

    [Pokémon] is an abbreviation or if you will a mashup of Pocket Monsters.

    As opposed to Monster In My Pocket?

  30. Not flamebait, guys... by meringuoid · · Score: 1

    ... Mods, please look up the story of Carl Sagan, the Butthead Astronomer, and get back to us. Thanks.

    --
    Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  31. my favorite gene by Dr.+Binders · · Score: 0

    Maybe it's because i'm french, but I like http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/viewer.fcgi?db= protein&val=4505225 "ménage à trois". Who said scientist don't have a sense of humour...

  32. Karma points be damned by g0bshiTe · · Score: 1

    Gotta catch em all!

    --
    I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!