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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.
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.
You are free to do so. With the twisted German jurisdiction, not you are to be held responsible, but the owner of the webpage you have been mentioning V********b, as he should/ought/could have prevented the mentioning on his page.
There actually *is* a reason why Germans are required to have a imprint on their pages (Don't believe me? Look for "6 Teledienstgesetz").
Screw the FSM - Real geeks believe in the Invisible Pink Unicorn
Exactly that is supposedly happening. Or at least so the person who registered the trademark claims.
His claim is that he owns the trademark and has a product (if he has one is irrelevant, at least for the law) by that name, and that the "false" VirtualDub is trying to mooch from his publicity.
He's not suing people who talk about it. He sues people who link to the downloads.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
...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.
"I'm going to start using the word "VirtualDub" as often as I can"
Be sure to use it as a verb, that really pisses off trademark holders.
IANAL, so how do I know? I googled it and sure enough, trademark owners hate that.
Google it yourself and see.
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
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.
> "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.