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Atari Targets Retro Community With Cease & Desist
svenski writes "Atari User reports that Atari Inc. have begun to target the retro community and have now turned their attentions to atari2600.org, a website first registered in 2000, demanding the domain name be handed over."
Eleven years of no enforcement means they effectively gave up all rights to the name. See you in court, Atari.
There seems to be news like this in abundance. When corporate profits start to sag, or don't skyrocket the legal teams start looking for people to mess with to rack up billable hours. It's disgusting to say the least how willing these companies are to alienate fans in pursuit of profits.
I got here through a series of tubes
I guess companies can register a trademark, *then* go after persons that have used the name?
After all Atari didn't exist for a lot of years.
Isn't there some expiration of a trademark when it's not defended for some number (11, in this case) years?
Because they couldn't find a better way to look like assholes.
Because some quasi-develepor exec probably sold them on the idea that their decades-old intellectual property could become sellable again on the mobile/embedded platform market but first they need to kill off the community that formed around these games?
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
They can't steal atari2600.org just because they feel like it's theirs. Make them take it to arbitration, they have no case.
Sometimes, life itself is sarcasm...
Do they still exist? I thought they went bust decades ago.
Remove of the toe?
0 = 1 + e^(Alt something)
i've just written this to the blog-writer: Please use the "Estoppel" Legal Defense. There's no way that Atari have not known of the existence for 12 years of the atari2600.org domain name.
The "Estoppel" defense states that if you ignore something, it is tantamount to "acquiescence" - i.e. "silent consent".
thus it can be claimed that Atari has "Silently Consented" to the use of this domain name, by virtue of them not having done anything for well over a decade.
It's not even the same Atari, is it?
I play more 2600 than xbox. Pong is a great social game after the bar.
Why bother?
Looks like they are trying to resurrect the brand using flash and possibly other distribution channels.. See HERE for an example. When I tried to play Asteroids, it took me to my facebook page and asked for permission... I said no.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
I'll start a company called "www." and then sue every website in the world which has my name in its entirety in its website address.
Profits!
They may be able to force domain owners to take down content that is in violation of trademarks/copyrights owned by Atari, but I'll be damned if they can take a domain name from its owner.
vos nescitis quicquam, nec cogitatis quia expedit nobis ut unus moriatur homo pro populo et non tota gens pereat.
Sure... some MBA lawyer douchebag ressurects the name Atari to make money off the Atari fanboys, and then proceeds to shit all over the exact fanbase he hopes to profit from. I assume this guy used to work at Sony?
I say we go out and register ATARI*****.com (replace asteriks with whatever suits your fancy), and under contact info assign all rights to Nolan Bushnell.
Let's see how smart these douches are.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
There's no way i'm buying the nextgen Atari console now!
citation needed. I bought both witcher and witcher 2 off GoG with no DRM of any kind.
93rd rule of Slashdot: No matter how obvious my sarcasm is, my comment will be taken seriously by someone.
Because some quasi-develepor exec probably sold them on the idea that their decades-old intellectual property could become sellable again on the mobile/embedded platform market but first they need to kill off the community that formed around these games?
The chance that they could monetize this stuff is pretty much zero. Most 2600 games were bloody awful and people who have the need to play them for nostalgia can easily obtain roms and perfect emulators from numerous places already.
Really? I bought Witcher 2 and it required that you login/register via the launch client to prove you own the game.
This is clearly Atari's admission that they plan to become a nonprofit organisation, and qualify for the .org TLD.
I navigated to atari2600.org It doesn't look like the author is really using the domain. It is nothing but a title and a few links to another domain www.taswegian.com No blog, no community, no content. Just let them have it.
Trademarks are special in that you lose them if you don't enforce them. That's not the case with copyrights, patents or trade secrets. If you don't defend your trademark, then the law holds that your mark becomes part of the language, so that you don't own it anymore.
I learned of this when Saks 41st Avenue sent a C&D letter to a small clothing store called Sacks 41st Avenue in Capitola, California. It made the front page of the local paper. Saks' attorney told the reporter who asked about it that they had to defend their trademark or they would lose it.
The problem though is that whoever administers the domain name dispute resolution policy may not apply the trademark law. It is possible that Atari could take the domain because they registered their trademark before the website registered their domain. Because their trademark is no longer enforceable, they have no rights to the domain, but ICANN may not heed that fact and so force the register to hand the domain over to Atari.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
They're also sending letters to any hobbyist showing an Atari logo... even in a demo scene production.
http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/186151-ive-got-email-from-atari-today/
Oh man GORF on the iphone? I'd pay $80.00 for that!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
-m.
I've been working on an iOS app for a while. While Objective-C and Cocoa Touch are pretty nice to work with, I am sick to death of Apple's corporate control freak mentality. The fact that I cannot run code I wrote myself on an iOS device I bought with my own cash is, frankly, offensive.
Now I can pay $99 to be an iOS developer, which gives me a digital certificate that allows me to load my own binaries on my devices. I can also get certificates that allow for Ad Hoc distribution on other devices for beta testing. But both of these certificates have expiration dates. What that means is that I cannot give a binary directly to an end-user and have it continue working forever on their device. The only way to achieve that is for my users to get my app from Apple's App Store.
From now on, I'll develop for iOS if a client pays me to do it, but for all of my own titles, I'm going to focus on Android. Apple knows very well that so many of its developers are sick of being treated like this, and so like me are moving to Android. Rather than playing nicely with others by easing its restrictions on who can install what on iOS devices, or where end-users can obtain apps from, they are trying to prevent the loss of iOS developers by putting an end to Android entirely.
That's Just Wrong.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
It is not a real website. I looked at it. It looks like something a domain name squatter would make. It is a 1 paragraph description followed by about 8 links to another domain. Nothing of value would be lost if this site goes away. No links would be broken. No content lost. This guy is just hoping for a buy out.
You know what's a better social game after the bar? Fucking the chick that I pulled that night.
Did you buy it on Steam or GOG? http://www.gog.com/en/support/the_witcher_2/_b_product_faq_b_
93rd rule of Slashdot: No matter how obvious my sarcasm is, my comment will be taken seriously by someone.
Nintendo, Sony, MS--they've all had their heydeys. But the next generation will be ruled by the Atari Jaguar Series 2. They're going to launch with new versions of "Adventure" and "Combat" that will make everyone who even sees the trailers orgasm uncontrollably. You heard it here first.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I have been told that he removed a bunch a content after getting the C&D.
How about we boycott anything relevant to atari and its subsidiaries/parents ? i bet it would be quite an exciting experience for their stockholders.
corporations need to learn not to take consumers as herdable cattle.
Read radical news here
You know what's even better? Playing Pong with then fucking that chick I pulled at the bar.
Then, if she likes zombie movies, some co-op L4D2.
You got limited vision, my man.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
The chick that grows out of your shoulder socket? The one with the five legs? Yeah, I know her too, but having her stroke your dick isn't "fucking".
I am sure that Mr. Rolfe would love to articulate how bad many of the Atari videos games were(hello E.T.), and it will be entertaining to boot.
Hell, send the information to him and he can add some scathing lyrics, aimed at Atari, in his theme song.
can easily obtain roms and perfect emulators from numerous places already.
which is why they are (futily) attempting to those down.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
That's the crazy thing. Infogrames took the Atari name, presumably to capitalize on people's good memories. Now they are attacking the very people trying the hardest to keep those memories alive. This makes no business sense whatsoever.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
It might work better if you stuck to your own species.
Atari used to be a smart company in the past. They have now become much more stupid, a kid of "company Alzheimer's disease".
If Atari is pushing to collect contempt and scorn from it's users, they'll succeed.
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
Palmela Handerson is her name.
Whole lotta content there....
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Such long copyrights and brand names being traded around is pure laziness. The people buying brands and capitalising on IP created nearly 30 years ago.
Personally I see that there's a case for having all patents, copyright and other IP die with the company when they go bust. It offers an incentive to be creative and not take massive risks.
You're missing the point -- Apple wants to sell the thing that always works. Keeping things pinned down minimises crashes. Minimising crashes means higher user satisfaction, which builds the brand.
User freedom is also known as "enough rope to hang yourself".
Apple have been very clever and relied on the "appstore goldrush" to ensure that millions of different app developers can produce enough to satisfy the hundreds of significant use-cases of the phone. The ecosystem is saturated, so the loss of a few is no problem at all.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
Why don't I have mod points when I see things that make me irlol like this? Slashdot, plz2give out moar mod points plz
And apparently yours is blurry. That's a man, man.
Unless the brand has changed hands again, it's just that, a brand name only, in the hands of a French [queue nationalist jokes] game publisher named Infogrames. The name "Atari" has been just as meaningless as "Memorex" for quite a long time.
Back when atari2600.org was registered, was the .org TLD only available to non-commercial entities? That would have precluded any action from Atari to take the domain then.
Because their trademark is no longer enforceable, they have no rights to the domain, but ICANN may not heed that fact and so force the register to hand the domain over to Atari.
They're not supposed to according to the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy:
All registrars must follow the the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (often referred to as the "UDRP"). Under the policy, most types of trademark-based domain-name disputes must be resolved by agreement, court action, or arbitration before a registrar will cancel, suspend, or transfer a domain name. Disputes alleged to arise from abusive registrations of domain names (for example, cybersquatting) may be addressed by expedited administrative proceedings that the holder of trademark rights initiates by filing a complaint with an approved dispute-resolution service provider.
To invoke the policy, a trademark owner should either (a) file a complaint in a court of proper jurisdiction against the domain-name holder (or where appropriate an in-rem action concerning the domain name) or (b) in cases of abusive registration submit a complaint to an approved dispute-resolution service provider (see below for a list and links).
Exactly, their efforts are futile. 2600 roms are so small that someone could zip up the entire ROM collection in a few MB. They cannot stamp on this sort of thing no matter how much they tried so why even bother? I think Atari would have been better served by working with the emulator authors to bundle up their code and some ROMs for sale on smart phones and split the proceeds.
Really Atari? 11 years later and NOW you want the domain? Go scratch your ass you f'in douchebags.
I've reported lots of iOS bugs to Apple.
I even had my iPhone kernel panic right at the start of a demo of my app during a job interview. I had to forcibly reboot my phone while the clients waited impatiently. They cut the interview short and would not let me complete my demo, no doubt thinking that the kernel panic was a bug in my userspace app.
I am not at all impressed by the quality of the apps that I've downloaded from the App Store, not even the ones I've paid money for. Even if you don't have an iOS device, go have a look at the star ratings and user reviews by browsing the app store's website. They are overwhelmingly negative. It is uncommon for apps to be positively rated or to have positive user comments.
Apple makes the claim that they require inspection of your app before it goes on sale so that they can keep the quality up, and maintain a really great user experience. I don't buy that. Apple requires that inspection because there are certain kinds of apps that they don't want in the app store.
For example the app store approval guidelines specifically say that any mention of competing mobile platforms in your app is grounds for rejection. While my app can advertise my services as an iOS developer, it cannot also advertise my Android services. How does that restriction maintain the quality of iOS Apps, or improve the user experience? It does not in any way. It just enhances Apple's profits while diminishing my opportunities for promoting my company from within my apps.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
I'll develop for iOS if a client pays me to do it, but for all of my own titles, I'm going to focus on Android.
Here's a sample of letters you might get:
Dear Mr. Crawford,
I want to try your application, but I don't plan to subscribe to smartphone service. My current dumbphone with $5/mo Virgin Mobile USA service handles my mobile voice needs acceptably. If you ported your application to iOS, I could use it on an iPod touch. But as it is now, there really isn't an Android device comparable to the iPod touch, namely a pocket-size computer with access to the platform's most popular software distribution platform and without the exorbitant price typical of unlocked cell phones. The Archos 43 doesn't have Android Market, and Samsung's Galaxy S-based product appears unavailable in my country. Do you plan to make your application available on Amazon, AppsLib, SlideME, or Soc.io, or as a direct .apk download?
The arcade side ("Atari Games" aka "Tengen") got absorbed into Midway and then into Time Warner. I wasn't aware of this side getting bought by Infogrames.
Another case where estoppal applies - they've let homebrewers use the fuji logo for decades now without a single takedown notice.
Which makes me think about another subtle method of protest: Write "Atari" in the font of the logo of Fujifilm. "Can't use your Fuji? We'll use another Fuji."
Laches is the legal term for sitting on your ass while your rights are being violated. After too much ass-sitting, you'll be equitably estopped from asserting any legal rights that you had.
Add Atari to my do not buy list.
Because some quasi-develepor exec probably sold them on the idea that their decades-old intellectual property could become sellable again on the mobile/embedded platform market but first they need to kill off the community that formed around these games?
Maybe I'm just talking out of my rear here but it may be an 'enforce the trademark' issue.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Net earnings went down; one of the corp. heads had a magic idea that's worked for other companies in the past... That idea was astounding and looked like it would be the coolest thing ever. The idea was...... ------^ ;)
When I tried to play Asteroids, it took me to my facebook page and asked for permission... I said no.
I'm disappointed in myself. I actually didn't immediately think that this is one of the things they would do. Ugh. How could I not?
Thanks for the info. This will be passed around at work tomorrow, dat's fer sher.
I find it interesting that they targeted a barely used domain instead of going after http://www.atari2600.com/ which actually sells merchandise or http://www.atariage.com/ my guess is that they're going after the low-hanging fruit first.
Her stage name is Madame Palm and her Five Lovely Daughters.
Eh...if these companies are going to be like this, then the current owners should just turn the sites into something completly unrelated and undesirable to the company before they get them. For example...I would totally turn the site into a pron site of some kind before they could get their hands on it. Then see how hard they battle for it in court and see how much they want it after is been marred.
Well, yeah, it's easy to play Internet-Legal-Tough-Guy. I'd like to see you try that one in real life though.
Am I right in guessing that you're going to try to claim that your use of the trademark is in an unrelated field and you'll somehow get away with it because of that? Because my gut reaction is the fact that until recently the domain/brand clearly *was* associated with an infringing usage and also, I don't know what the legal term for a spoiling tactic is, but I suspect the judge would (correctly) see your behaviour way and that there would be consequences to that.
As I said, IANAL, but I wouldn't want to try that in a real court, and I suspect you wouldn't have the guts to do that in real-life either.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
There are more Android devices sold than iOs devices. I don't see how it is to my advantage to stay with a platform that is losing market share. Maybe there is no Android answer to the iPod Touch, but I don't expect things will stay that way.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
Her stage name is Madame Palm and her Five Lovely Daughters.
But you also have to do that fat, stubby, short one on the end as well...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Atari still exists?
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
That's because all the rich craftsmen can afford better tools. /ducks
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
You're venting at the wrong company. The Atari that actually created all those wonderful games, consoles and computers died a long time ago. The litigious company in question only has it's name.
Uh oh.
Don't trust any concentration of power.
That's the crazy thing. Infogrames took the Atari name, presumably to capitalize on people's good memories.
According to what I heard when I worked there, they originally bought the Atari name as something of a job lot of IP, they didn't really want it. Then, they went on a 12 month marketing blitz in the US, to push the Infogrames name into more than just the hard-core gamer niche. After that, they did some surveys, and found that more people knew of a 10 year dead company than one that was trying to shove their name right in front of them at the time. So they said, "Fuck it", and started using the Atari name. At the time, someone told me, "Americans are too stupid to reailse that Atari closed down years ago."
Now they are attacking the very people trying the hardest to keep those memories alive. This makes no business sense whatsoever.
There's some very good reasons I no longer work there. Given some of the short-sighted and stupid decisions that happened when I worked there, I have no idea why they haven't gone bankrupt yet.
The Archos 43 doesn't have Android Market
Nokia N800, a half-decade old, can boot Android
Just because a device "can boot Android" doesn't mean it has access to applications that are exclusive to Android Market. Every iPT has the App Store; few pocket-size devices priced for sale in the United States without an expensive voice and data contract have Android Market.
There are more Android devices sold than iOs devices.
This is true of phones, but is it true of the Wi-Fi-only device that a mom is likely to buy for her children? An iPod touch competes more with a Nintendo DSi: something on which to play games and music, possibly carried along with a separate dumbphone on the cheapest available prepaid plan that lets the child call home in an urgency.
Maybe there is no Android answer to the iPod Touch, but I don't expect things will stay that way.
Then in what quarter of what year do you expect the Galaxy Player, or Galaxy S Wi-Fi, or whatever Samsung is calling it nowadays, to become widely available in the United States?
I didnt even own your garbage when it was "new" we got a coleco, since then you have trashed your shallow and pointless game heritage, your 15 min of fame in the pc world, and have done nothing but shit on your name for the last 25 years day after every fucking embarrassing day as your traded around like the broken whore you are.
GTFO and die, you obviously have nothing else to show for yourself, your pathetic old cunt.
And everybody knows this always turns out in a reasonable way when one side is a large, multinational corporation and the other side in an individual.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
atariREALLYSUCKS.com
Ford missed it.
Blogging because I can...
This another example of 21st century SEO created by the DMCA.
If you search Google for Atari,. their mark, there are a bunch of pages that show up on Google search that are not Atari.com. I'll bet that totally pisses off their marketing/sales department, esp. so they send their legal folks off to "fix it at all costs"
IOW.... possibly PR / "marketing effort" in preparation for new products.
How long before companies start threatening to sue people for sending Tweets or status updates with their company's brand name?
If you play Pong first the chances of fucking her drop considerably.
Fuck first, then Pong. If she calls you the next day start looking for a chapel.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
There are Android phones available that are as cheap as the iPod Touch (if not quite as capable) and can be used on PAYG. This is especially true in countries other than the US with decent mobile providers.
But without her, the act just falls apart. Where would be be as a race if we didn't have the fat, stubby, short sister?
One TOS Nurses Uniform and Wig coming right up...
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE6r8L-YrrM
--deckert
Comment removed based on user account deletion
He's so badass, he can carry an entire bridge with his bare hands.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
As long as they don't go after atari2600.com, nobody will notice a disappearing parked domain.
When I tried to play Asteroids, it took me to my facebook page and asked for permission... I said no.
Didn't get that Facebook prompt. Were you going for Asteroids under Arcade Classics instead of Asteroids Online found on Featured?
It's not as if the site is currently a home-brew fan site where people share pictures of their atari's.
It's a squater trying to sell it for money. And it's pretty standard procedure that when you take a protected name as a URL and try to SELL it, the owner of the name gets to take it away from you.
A free license to use the trademarked name would 100% deal with the duty-to-enforce part of trademark law. There's no requirement to stop others using your name, as long as you license it.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Either someone else already successfully opposed it, or they didn't pay their fees in a timely manner. "It's dead, Jim!"