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Russian Hopes To Cash In On Emoticons
drewmoney writes "According to a BBC article, Entrepreneur Oleg Teterin said the trademark for the ';-)' emoticon was granted to him by Russia's federal patent agency. 'Legal use will be possible after buying an annual licence from us,' he was quoted by the newspaper Kommersant as saying. 'It won't cost that much — tens of thousands of dollars,' added the businessman, who is president of Superfone, a company that sells advertising on mobile phones. The president of Russian social networking site odnoklassniki.ru, Nikita Sherman said: 'You're not likely to find any retards in Russia who'll pay Superfone for the use of emoticons.'" Teterin may have gotten the idea by catching up on some old news about Despair, Inc., which in May 2000 was awarded a US trademark on the "frowny" emoticon (Slashdot story).
:-) ...
Am I doin it rite?
What lame-brain dummy would think that either :-( or ;-) are trademarkable symbols??? They both originated circa 1980 and therefore are public domain.
FOX NEWS.com should be BANNED from television and internet. Have the Congress take it over and give us Truespeak.
I should patent "lol". I'd be rich from the 13-year-olds alone!
This is crazy, is this for serious..... ? :) :) :), oops there goes my bank account.
Who own the patent on numbers/letters/symbols or language ?
I am going to patent free will
I never put noses on my emoticons anyway ;)
"I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
Judge: Oleg Teterin? :-) :-( :-P
Oleg Teterin: Yes?
Judge: We have ruled that you don't have a patent on the emoticon
Oleg Teterin: Oh
Everyone else: lol!
Summation 2
"What lame-brain dummy would think that either :-( or ;-) are trademarkable symbols"
The kind of person who would think of trademarking these symbols, would be a businessman who wanted to use this cheap stunt, to get a lot of publicity for his business. Its not about the trademark. Its a stunt, to generate free publicity for his business.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
Rospatent has already invalidated this trademark because it's a generic image and doesn't offer Superfone any brand recognition.
:-*
my
(_|_)
>:-(
Seven Days with Ubuntu Unity
Couldn't the typewriter folks turn around and sue these Russians for stealing company secrets? It is a big secret right? Right?
Does that mean I won't be able to patent my new processus of using the character "" as pictographic symbol meaning "nose"?
Why not call him the fraud that he is?
Does this ruling apply worldwide?
If so, I am now a emoticon pirate. You will probably be able to get some at piratebay soon.
Seven Days with Ubuntu Unity
This is just stupid! What's next, patenting keyboard buttons?
Oh
You keep using that "patent" word. I don't think that it means what you think it means.
:) owns all of us.
Hello? Is this the patent office? Good. I'd like to file a patent please. It's called "Use of organic materials for human energy acquisition"
Two counterfeigted version:
C-:
(-:
-Woof woof woof!
these people are parasites, not entrepreneurs.
prepare the survey weasels.
It seems he patented Times New Roman size 12pt too!
Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.
I'm :-( about the patent on :-)
(-:
(-O-)
>-O-
I'm tired of paying the man to use them and I don't have the programming skill to figure out how to make them myself.
Syntax error: loose != lose, affect != effect, then!=than
I think you'll find that they are already defined as "User is cat in the dark with Mushroom on Head" and "User is ninja cat in the dark about to perform Sumarai attack", respectively.
Genesis 1:32 And God typed
The worst part is, they aren't even original. No-one here heard of Despair Inc.? http://despair.com/frownies.html
It only takes one man to change the Wisdom of the Crowd to Tyranny of the Masses.
Anymore anyway.
The name of the largest of the Russian successors to the KGB is the FSB, est. 1991.
AKA the Federal Smiley Bureau ; ).
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
:^(= =)
my
*[_|_]+
The Russians do have a sense of humor. It's just a little different than ours.
"The ferrets, they're every where I tell you!"
This reminds me of the shenanigans of a company closer to home. I'd like to invite these two to work out their emoticon patent issues in the following manner:
/\/\ /\
o
|\__o
It's not Soviet Russia any more. It's Post Soviet Russia.
In Post Soviet Russia, mcgrew corrects YOU!
Free Martian Whores!
Given that this has been in common usage in email and the like for a very long time (I've been using ;-) for at least 15 years now) how in the hell can this be trademarked??
I realize patents have prior art, and we're talking about a Russian institution (from which I'm told you can likely buy anything) -- but how in the hell can a widely used emoticon which likely predates this guy using it in any way shape or form be trademarked??? Isn't this kinda like trademarking "the" or something??
I'm sure he'll be able to extort a little money out of one of the big companies. But, really, this makes no sense whatsoever to me.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Emoticon nail decals :-) :-D :-X
Useful when you want to take care which finger you raise to someone.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
now a Russian owns :-)? wha? :-0 I'm mad >:-[ you can't own :-) as much as anyone can own a common word! Utter nonsense. I'm sure there's prior art >:-p
What lame-brain dummy would think that either :-( or ;-) are trademarkable symbols
Actually, I think that the lame-brain in this case is not the "businessman" (although extortionist might be a better term), but the idiot who actually granted the application...
Wow, what a dickhead!
in the original Klingon.
Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
does it count if you don't use the nose? :)
As well as the acronym "STFU" and the expletive "retard".
The name Cingular ring a bell? They didn't succeed either.
Maybe this will stifle their use and kill the format.
Maybe this is a good use of the patent system.
I also think any web forum that uses them should pay through the nose to this guy for the revenues he has surely lost.
This will have the greater effect of stifling all such uses in the future.
The more I think about it the more convinced I am that this is an excellent use of the patent system.
http://p8ste.com - Web based Clipboard
There are trademarks on *words* you dumbass.
For instance, Ford has a UK trademark on the word "Fiesta". That doesn't mean I can't talk about a fiesta I attended over the weekend. Trademarks apply to specific industries only. Ford's trademark means that you'll never see a Volkswagen Fiesta, not that people can no longer use the word "fiesta" in emails. No different for ;-).
The concept of "public domain" has nothing to do with trademarks. That's a term from copyright law.
Overall, I suggest the people working in the Russian patent office have a slightly firmer grasp on the legalities of this than you do.
If you understood the concept of trademarks whatsoever you'd realize that trademarking ;-), even if successful, would not prevent people from using it in emails.
But I suspect this whole thing is what us cynics refer to as a "publicity stunt".
They're called smileys you dumbasses.
I have now copyrighted the word 'fuck', and would like to offer it's use to the world for the low, low price of $0.05 USD. Users may buy a volume license of 30 uses for a dollar. Sysadmins may obtain an unlimited license for $20/year.
I was taught to respect my elders. The trouble is, it's getting harder and harder to find some.
(-:
):
(8
You speak London? I speak London very best.
Why don't I patent all of the logical operators used on most modern programming languages, including ==, !=, &&, ||, etc. Gee, I could sue EVERY major software company, even Microsoft, for infringing my copyrights! I could be R$CH!
We'd all be screwed if someone patented "A system and method of natural cellular respiration to sustain life", or the equation... They could collect money from every living orginism on Earth every time an orginism breaths!
There are (somewhat) restrictions on patents relating to biological entities and processes, but they found a legal loophole before (All those patents on our DNA)...
So, unless you all want to get sued, you need to send me 2 cents (US) for each 1 thousand vowels used.
It's not too expensive, and if you are a book or newspaper publisher, I offer volume discounts!
HexaByte - he's a square and a half!
I am I the ONLY one that see this as a "good" thing?
:-)
...._______________________
..../_==o;;;;;;____________[] / // (__) ), -" //__//
//__//
I mean, if you ban emoticons then only crminals will have emoticons.
Think how much cherrier prisons would be!!
hmmm... or more dangerous...
''' ), ---.(_(__)
''
'
Who the hell cares. As if Russians give a damn about western laws. Same goes the other way round. What a lame sod he is. Good luck enforcing your lame copyright dude. :-)
Wanker
You should RTFS:
"Teterin may have gotten the idea by catching up on some old news about Despair, Inc., which in May 2000 was awarded a US trademark on the "frowny" emoticon (Slashdot story). "
It's too close to their trademark on ":-("(tm)
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
The rademark institution said that the smiley is an integral part of the "Superfone" logo, is not a trademark in and of itself, and is in fact incapable of being one.
Sorry to ruin everybody's party, but here is a source for those who can read Russian or are awesome enough for Babelfish.
Despair has a trademark to use it in its specific business. Nobody's affected unless they try to use it in similar commerce in a similar manner.
Some people are born stupid, others work at it, and some do both!
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
Maybe we should trademark letters. So everyone that has written a letter in their lifetime should be punished and put to jail.
http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/beyond/2007/summer/happy-25th-emoticon.shtml
> Whatever else he may be, entrepreneur fits as a label.
Perhaps. But to me, he'll be an "asshole" first and foremost. Or to put it in terms he might understand, he's an (_|_)
... if Microsoft can trademark the XP emoticon.
Trademarks apply to branding products. If your use wouldn't cause brand confusion with his advertising company, 'Suprafone', then you wouldn't be infringing on the trademark anyway.
In one or another weird sense you are telling me you are pimping us all out here !
oh, sorry, I forgot, this is slashdot, no money to earn here ! :)
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
Someone tries to grab the smiley face?
I say, it's time a missile test up in Minot.
We need to target this guy, and their patent office.
I would think that 350 kt should be sufficient to stop this nonsense.
-- grin,
David
No - after all you missed the wick. It's the one with the semicolon which is patented ;-)
You missed the wick. It's the one with the semicolon which is patented ;-)
which would be ;-) - note the semicolon.
To: Oleg Teterin
:-]
What now bitch?
While I know that trademarks and patents and all those shiny things have a purpose, it's just getting stupid these days with what people will try and make a claim for. This still doesn't top McDonald's patenting how to make a burger though.
At least the Russian courts aren't so blitheringly dense that they'd allow this.
well, well:
In Soviet Russia, you own smiley...
Who would have thunk it?
Fuck the crooked Ruskies!
All your ;-) are belong to us!