Slashdot Mirror
Australian Women Fight Over "Geekgirl" Trademark
bennyboy64 writes "Two prominent women in the Australian IT industry are in a bitter dispute over the ownership of the trademark 'geekgirl.' A woman attempting to use 'geekgirl' on Twitter told ZDNet that women had been advised by the trademark owner to stop doing so since she owned the trademark for the word. 'She noted her trademark and asked me to stop calling myself a "geekgirl" in general conversation and to cease using the hashtag "#geekgirl" on Twitter,' IT consultant Kate Carruthers said."
Which one hangs out on Slashdot?
If neither of them do than neither deserves the trademark.
If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
I wonder if either of them will actually have established valid use rights under this dispute. Geekgirl would almost surely be descriptive and as such would need to prove secondary meaning under the American system. Even assuming that the AU system would have issued a trademark registration to the first girl, it's only a priority date for intent to use. She needs to actually produce a good or service and it's going to be interesting if they say some blog posts are a good or service are enough to establish this use. What will likely happen is the second will fold like a cheap suit despite the fact that she would win if she had competent counsel.
Anyone who claims a trademark on such a generic term should hand in their geek card and instead join the Patent Troll Club. :-(
ha ha ha that's so cool you call girls ugly, man, I wish I could have an opinion
The Admin and the Engineer
In Australian law? The one with the biggest tits.
But justice is supposed to be blind. Does that mean there will be groping involved? How do I get on a jury in Australia? ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Is this just someone claiming they own the trademark, or can they like prove it - like they have been using it and writing for ZDNet for 15 years using that name?
If they really have been using it as a handle for years, and has business tied to it, then that is a legit argument.
And, seriously, the other girl is actually allowing this to go to court? It takes like a whole 20 seconds to change one's username on Twitter, and all your followers automatically go to your new username. I would have changed it to GeekGirl2, and just have avoided the legal costs.
Sorry, no. In French law, the one who marries the president.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Shortly after geek was being used in a non-negative way to refer to computer enthusiasts, geekgirl started being used for clarification purposes due to the extreme gender bias people have of thinking of geeks as an all male group. Heck, I even went to college with a girl that had a binary square tattoo that was ascii for geekgirl.
This entire case reeks of horse manure in my opinion.