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Russian Hopes To Cash In On Emoticons

Posted by timothy on from the but-cyrillic-is-full-of-emoticons dept.

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).

27 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Provocation by MadDogX · · Score: 5, Funny

    :-) ... Am I doin it rite?

    1. Re:Provocation by Haley's+Comet · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hey Oleg Teterin, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." ;-)


      The IP patent race is the new 'Special Olypics'...

      --
      The Illuminati would kill me, but I'm not rich enough to take notice of.
  2. Patent Office == Zoo filled with Idiots? by theaveng · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.
    1. Re:Patent Office == Zoo filled with Idiots? by Sebilrazen · · Score: 4, Funny
      There's a popular meme around here that applies, I just can't figure out which one:
      • Does it run linux?
      • I, for one, welcome our new ? overlords.
      • In Soviet Russia, ? you!
      • ?????
      • Profit.
      --
      "There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche.
    2. Re:Patent Office == Zoo filled with Idiots? by JJJK · · Score: 5, Funny

      you forgot "you insensitive clod", you insensitive clod!

    3. Re:Patent Office == Zoo filled with Idiots? by Grimbleton · · Score: 4, Funny

      You must be new here.

    4. Re:Patent Office == Zoo filled with Idiots? by Catiline · · Score: 3, Funny

      In Soviet Russia, new smiley overlords profit??? from YOU! Oh, wait....

      --
      Do you like Japanese imports?
  3. Fine with me by Golddess · · Score: 3, Funny

    I never put noses on my emoticons anyway ;)

    --
    "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
    1. Re:Fine with me by Andr+T. · · Score: 5, Funny
      RTFA. You're doomed.

      He also said since other similar emoticons - :-) or ;) or :) - resemble the one he has trademarked, use of those symbols could also fall under his ownership.

      --

      Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.

    2. Re:Fine with me by danieltdp · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Just put a mustache on it, like this ;-} Syntacticly is similar, but semantically different: it's not someone blinking, it's a guy with a mustache blinking!

      --
      -- dnl
    3. Re:Fine with me by suggsjc · · Score: 4, Funny

      I had a couple of mod points, but I honestly couldn't decide between funny and insightful. Either way, I'm going to start using this one: =[:~;X(---[

      I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I think there is a top hat and a bowtie in there somehow.

      --
      When I have a kid, I want to put him in one of those strollers for twins and then run around the mall looking frantic.
    4. Re:Fine with me by SharpFang · · Score: 5, Funny

      You asshole, I ran this as a Perl program and it erased my hard drive.

      --
      45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  4. Imagine the scene by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 5, Funny

    Judge: Oleg Teterin?
    Oleg Teterin: Yes? :-)
    Judge: We have ruled that you don't have a patent on the emoticon
    Oleg Teterin: Oh :-(
    Everyone else: lol! :-P

    --
    Summation 2
  5. Its a PR Stunt, not about trademark by MindKata · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "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.
    1. Re:Its a PR Stunt, not about trademark by EdZ · · Score: 4, Funny

      Are you sure you're, using commas correctly?

    2. Re:Its a PR Stunt, not about trademark by ideonode · · Score: 5, Funny

      They're not commas but apostrophes that fell of the "it's" and wandered upstream like salmon.

    3. Re:Its a PR Stunt, not about trademark by MBGMorden · · Score: 4, Funny

      Tack "Captain's log, stardate 1234, " onto the front of his post and it flows much more naturally.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  6. This trademark is already invalidated by Cyberax · · Score: 4, Informative

    Rospatent has already invalidated this trademark because it's a generic image and doesn't offer Superfone any brand recognition.

  7. Patent THIS: by AndGodSed · · Score: 5, Funny

    :-*

    my

    (_|_)

    >:-(

    --

    Seven Days with Ubuntu Unity

  8. Patent by loonycyborg · · Score: 5, Funny

    You keep using that "patent" word. I don't think that it means what you think it means.

  9. In Soviet Russia... by Cornwallis · · Score: 3, Funny

    :) owns all of us.

  10. In soviet russia C-: own you by Tei · · Score: 5, Funny

    Two counterfeigted version:
    C-:
    (-:

    --

    -Woof woof woof!

  11. Other Patent by Andr+T. · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  12. Time to opensource emoticons by frenchgates · · Score: 3, Funny

    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
  13. There's No Such Agency... by MRe_nl · · Score: 4, Funny

    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"
  14. Emoticons are funnier by snspdaarf · · Score: 3, Funny

    in the original Klingon.

    --
    Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
  15. Prisons happier places... by AmigaHeretic · · Score: 4, Funny

    I am I the ONLY one that see this as a "good" thing?

    I mean, if you ban emoticons then only crminals will have emoticons.

    Think how much cherrier prisons would be!! :-)


    hmmm... or more dangerous...

    ...._______________________
    ..../_==o;;;;;;____________[]
    ''' ), ---.(_(__) /
    '' // (__) ), -"
    ' //__//
    //__//