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VirtualDub Author Stymied by Trademark Troll
trifish writes "The author of VirtualDub wrote on his blog that 'someone has registered "VirtualDub" as a "word mark" in Germany as of June 6, 2006 and is now sending out notices to people in that country demanding money for so much as mentioning the program and linking to the SourceForge download from their website.' Well, I confess that only now I fully understand why Linux, Mozilla, TrueCrypt, and other open source projects register their names as trademarks."
It'll never be too soon to apply the slashdot moderation system to the patent system and everything else.
Where were you when the voynix came?
So who is it that has registered this "word mark" anyhow? The blog itself is pretty short on details, as it appears those that link to or use virtualdub have been getting the letters, and not the author himself.
Also, one wonders if there is some legal way to charge and/or get money back from somebody who is illegally using the name of your product to extort money.
...but I say break out the torches and pitchforks.
This tagline is copyrighted material. Please send $10 for an affordable replacement.
I'm going to start using the word "VirtualDub" as often as I can, on German websites and non-German. Let's see if this con artist is as good at suing a foreign national as s/he is at stealing from one.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Yeah, sue me. Oh, only in Germany though. Bigtime. Today Germany, tomorrow.....Belgium!
He may have a tm, but copyright would be the author of the sourceforge project... Since he's applied a tm, he could probably be sued for copyright infringement?
... a while back. They strongarmed the developer(s?) to remove WMV compatibility. And now some Trademark Troll is busting their chops? Can't my favorite movie editing software catch a break?
Wasn't there just a big issue with people suing for copyright/trademark infringement when they only own the IP to do so? I was pretty sure that some kind of law was recently passed because of the new fad of beating companies to trademarks and then taking all their money.
Blerg.
I've often read that European laws offer their citizens greater protection than the US. My thinking is that if you could show any form of malice or harmful intent from the name squatter that that person could be held for a criminal act.
Is there any recourse against this marmot!
No less troubling, though, are those who can't do a damn thing in life trying to legally steal from those who actually produce something of value. I can't think of any better word to describe the actions of people who create nothing, not even ideas, and sue when someone comes up with a device that loosely resembles their mystery ideas.
"osake no hou ga, biiru yori ii" to omotteiru.
All he has to do is rename it to "V-Dub in da Houze"
shouldn't we link to VirtualDub, Sourceforge and its download links a few thousand times?
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
anyone else find it interesting that such a mean act as this happened on 6/6/06?
He should quickly trademark in the USA as that will override that trademark especially since the author can provide proof of creation and originally naming it.
Previewing comments are for sissies!
You can't sue someone for using your trademark in a publication, as long as the trademark actually referrs to your product, there is no problem.
Why do you think review sites are allowed to bash Sony / Microsoft / FooBrand products without fear of retribution?
The point of a trademark is not to keep people from talking about your product, it is to keep another company from pretending to be your product.
...MS Products are usually somewhere between Offtopic and Funny?
Hmm... kinda correct, if you think about it...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Maybe this is a model open source should look at =D
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/06/08/17/142226.shtml
That's good fun, but you should try Googling "Google". When you Google "Google", all the Googles you get back aren't googles but GOOGLES! What's more, I suspect that if Google Googled Google, there'd be a GAGGLE of Googles Googled (and what's more Google than Google Google Google? Google? google...)
This space intentionally left (almost) blank.
Don't know anything about German trademark law, only a bit about the Dutch law, and ofcourse IANAL, but doesn't a registered trademark only give you (legal) protection against competitors using that name for their brands?
You would need to have a copyright on a word in order to prevent people from using it and that's not possible afaik.
Even assuming this person was being truthful, the only case they would have is agsinst the makers of VirtualDub, not the people who are talking about VirtualDub.
This is not patent law, where the user is the infringer - it is trademark law.
From the United States Copyright Office:
The concepts are generally similar in Europe. Without a current or planned good to sell behind his trademark, it is absolutely worthless.
> "Well, I confess that only now I fully understand why Linux, Mozilla, TrueCrypt, and other open source projects register their names as trademarks"
In the case of Linux(tm), it's precisely because back in the mid-nineties, someone named William Della Croce, Jr. tried to hijack the mark and extort money from various vendors and publishers. It took a year, and a bunch of money, to get the matter resolved and the trademark reassigned to Linus.
It was an ugly and sordid affair, and I really wish there were better alternatives than either registering a mark or allowing it to be attacked by trolls. Prior use of a mark--even an unregistered mark--does (or should) count against trolls, at least in the US, but it can still be a hassle to fight them off if the mark's not registered. Personally, I would like to see the term "Linux" become a generic term (like "Aspirin"), but I can understand why Linus is reluctant to allow that to happen after the Dell Croce incident.
FYI, I realize Sweden and Norway are different countries.
Hmmm.
Goggle!
Didn't the same thing happen to OpenOffice.org group, forcing them to adopt the silly '.org' to their name? IIRC the trademark "Open Office" was bought by a Brazilian company at the behest of Microsoft.
:)
How would virtualdub.org sound?
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
eMule also had the same problem.
Someone registered that name in Germany, and sent out letters. It got to court, and he transferred the trademark back to the author.
Two differences exist between the cases:
1) The authors of eMule live in Germany.
2) The troll published an eMule fork himself. (possibly with spyware)
You should look exactly on what they did. I don't want to see VirtualDub renamed. (anyone mentioned WireShark? wxWidgets? Joomla!?)
It's time to unleash AFRAID! (Anti-Fraudster Raider Agents, International Division).
They'll descend from helicopters, hook up to fire hydrants with reservoir-equipped hoses, then blast powerful streams of water and detergent to wash out the mouths, indeed the whole bodies, of these scuttling roaches.
A truly excellent pizza parlor is a delight unto the heavens. Treasure the sauce and the toppings!
Sorry, Mother Nature already owns the trademark and does a better job than Joe Blow with an inflatable doll.
Because bullets don't stop them. The only thing that can really kill a lawyer is another lawyer.
Verbing weirds language.
I am not a crackpot.
He could always rename it to VertDub. And trademark it.
Jaysyn
There is a war going on for your mind.
Does that country have any wiggle room for prior art in trademarking laws?
It would be pretty easy to show he was using it first.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Better than what? "Troll"?
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
No. But someone could sue vs the trademark and patent office and claim that the registrant of the word mark acted "in bad faith" ("bösgläubig") that is, claimed a word mark for which he had no own use, i. e. he registered it only to blackmail the distributor(s) of a popular program. Chances are good to win IMHO IANAL, since VirtualDub(intl.) has a German localization.
Hey don't blame me, IANAB
The registrant would need to be sued, not the the trademark and patent office.
Example: http://lexetius.com/2002,3142
Hey don't blame me, IANAB