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Microsoft Will Have To Rename SkyDrive
SmartAboutThings writes "A month ago, Microsoft was involved in a legal battle in the United Kingdom, when the court found that there was a conflict between Microsoft's SkyDrive and a trademark owned by the British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB). Back then, the UK court ruled that Microsoft was infringing the BSkyB's trademark. And now we have confirmation that Microsoft will be forced to change the SkyDrive brand name. This is quite a big branding issue for Microsoft. What are they going to call it? DriveSky? And chances are that the name change will be worldwide and not only in the United Kingdom."
or just F-Drive; C and D are your disk drives; E is the USB drive; so F-Drive is the Cloud storage drive letter.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
Data in, nothing out.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
MeTooDrive or Me2Drive. Since Microsoft only copies things that others do at this point, they should just grab the Me2 prefix to replace the G or i from all of Google's and Apple's products.
it's got s.k.y on it right there, tells the truth and sky-tv can't claim it.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
I guess just like gmail in Germany, where google had to make sure to always call it googlemail instead of gmail, because someone else already had the rights.
Captcha: sorrier
NSADrive !!!!!
And probably concluded that either they didn't infringe, or that they could steamroll anyone else.
Or, they only did the search in the US and just assumed they'd be fine.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Synonyms: blast, breath, breeze, draft, heavens, ozone, puff, sky, stratosphere, troposphere, ventilation, waft, whiff, wind, zephyr
ZephyrDrive, PuffDrive, BreezeDrive
This happened before with the XBox name. It is difficult to believe that a company like Microsoft, bolstered by batteries of lawyers with copyright, patent, and trademark expertise, could have pulled such a boneheaded move. Were they playing legal chicken with the Brits, or did they really, truly screw up?
I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
Fixed with one easy change of letter: SpyDrive.
The arrogance of a big player is punished when deserved.
Because Sky Broadcasting is such a small timer...
No arrogance here, just the assumption that people could tell the difference between a media conglomerate with an overreaching opinion of its' self worth and some cloud service.
Yes, obviously, one company should own a trademark on any product containing the work "Sky" in it.
CloudDrive
CloudStore
NetDrive
NetStore
WebDrive
WebStore
I just pulled those out of my ass in about 30 seconds and all of them appear to be taken already, but I'm sure someone in MS marketing can come up with something original, or they can license one they like. A new name won't be a huge problem, the bigger problem is any name recognition they had is gone.
Also, DriveSky doesn't solve anything because it was the use of the word Sky in the name that caused the trademark problems.
"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde
Murdoch vs Microsoft, IMHO Murdoch is worse. At least Microsoft isn't actively trying to subvert political processes through media control.
How many Microsoft SkyDrive users will be confused by the rename of this product and switch to Dropbox?
Both.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
DEVELOPERDRIVE!
how about DevNull? If they do a search into the name, I think they will find that there is nothing there.
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
'cept in this case it seems that its simply the word 'Sky' that is supposedly trademarked. Sky Broadcasting does not offer any similar services in any markets, hence they are claiming the word itself. The closest thing they are associated with is that Sky Broadcasting owns a subsidiary company that has a wifi hotspot service. That companies name is The Cloud.
What the summary doesnt make clear is that Microsoft and BSkyB reached a secret settlement on the matter.
"His name was James Damore."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_(satellite)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
What is interesting is that BSkyB doesn't have a "SkyDrive" product but many products named "Sky" that are in the same product category.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Microsoft Cloud Drive Storage Home Edition
Microsoft Cloud Drive Storage Premium Edition
Microsoft Cloud Drive Storage Enterprise Edition
Same thing happened with GMail in Germany, and with the iPhone in Brazil. With each country having their own system for registering trademarks, it becomes problematic to come up with a name that doesn't infringe on anybody else's trademark. There really should be a single, global registry for all trademarks, because, with the internet, every business is a global business.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
>chances are that the name change will be worldwide and not only in the United Kingdom
I doubt that very much.
Most linux users don't know this, but the man pages were named after Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris fsck'ing hates noobs!
Microsoft must have realized that arguing "Sky" is a generic word, so is "Windows". That means they'd be shooting themselves in the foot by arguing that Sky (and thus Windows) isn't trademark-able.
I guess Bing didn't find it.
SKY is also a broadband ISP nowadays.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
SkyDrive was way too fancy for them anyway. Based on coopting the windowing concept and calling it Windows, or Word (I forget what that does) something like...Cloud.
Ya that's it. Hurry up and trademark Cloud, Microsoft.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
And probably concluded that either they didn't infringe, or that they could steamroll anyone else.
Or, they only did the search in the US and just assumed they'd be fine.
This seems to be a recurring problem with Microsoft.
They got into trademark trouble over the name Metro
Now trademark trouble over the name SkyDrive.
There are many other examples where they are very unfocused.
Weesh... weesh... we should name it Bob! ', the intern suggested loudly with unbridled enthusiasm.
WinDrive
At least Microsoft isn't actively trying to subvert political processes through media control.
It is funny that this was one of their stated reasons for exiting from the MSNBC partnership.
What about Skype?
It's old and established name for a product but it's run by Microsoft now, are they forced to rebrand it too?
There are no atheists when recovering from tape backup.
Just like one company claiming a trademark on any product starting with lower-case "i'.
Why do I see all of the anti-MS posts? Yeah, MS has been a bastard many times, but to be swatted because they dared to use the term "sky" for their product when some other company that doesn't make anything close to the same product also used "sky" in their names is asinine. I'm sure Sky has been used in product names and company names before bskyb. You're an idiot if you think this is just fine.
you know, that Microsoft needs is a marketing department that doesn't just say "its called .net, lets put the word .net on everything, Office.net, Visual Studio.net, SQLServer.net"... then, when showed that was such a mess they said "the new API is called WinRT, I know lets call the operating systems Windows RT too, no-one will be confused at that!", followed shortly by "can we get Bill back to do another advert where he wiggles his ass while holding a big sausage?"
Maybe they should stop getting drunk all the time and do some fricking professional marketing-type work.
Drive of Sauron
I fucking hate Microsoft. That said. "SkyDrive" does not, in any sane persons thought processes infringe upon "BSkyB". British courts are insane.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
I fucking hate Microsoft. That said. "SkyDrive" does not, in any sane persons thought processes infringe upon "BSkyB". British courts are insane.
Nah, MS just shit on too many people, and few of them turned out to be UK judges.
On the "Metro" thing the first thing that came to mind right now was the NetApp MetroCluster we just installed at work.
Now I find there is an IBM storage technology called MetroCluster and a NetApp storage technology called MetroCluster
I wonder how that will pan out.
I'm seeing a bit too much anti-Microsoft bias here. If we weren't talking about Microsoft I'm pretty sure we'd all be outraged by that court's decision, especially given the reaction on Slashdot to similar cases in the past.
Where was Microsoft irresponsible here? Who in their right mind would have thought that SkyDrive infringed on British Sky Broadcasting Group? Does any company or service with "sky" in the name also infringe? What about SkyTrain? Or Delta Sky Miles?
I fail to see how Microsoft did anything wrong here.
I've done naming for companies in the past and it can be an excruciating process. I'm pretty sure a company as big as Microsoft isn't cavalier about naming. If my clients are any indication, their own lawyers are a huge pain in the ass for the internet teams to deal with. They're specifically paid to be thorough and attuned to every little risk. I can't imagine how much more difficult it will be now coming up with a new name with the heightened sensitivity to even the remotest of infringement. I certainly wouldn't want to be on that naming team.
Just add Microsoft in front. That is the only way they got away with Windows.
They will buy BSkyB, keep calling SkyDrive SkyDrive, and then kill BSkyB.
'Once scientists, even the dim-witted social scientists, get muzzled, the Western Civilization is finished.' - oldhack
After seeing all the great success of the UN organizations, I can guarantee you that it would be worse if this happened on a global scale instead of a per-country basis. The UN FAO is busy trying to convince people that bugs are a viable and realistic solution to curing global hunger. Do you really want to see what they recommend to deal with something less critical to sustaining human life?
Nope, can't do that.
It would just make it more obvious there's no reason to try and institute region-restricted product availability (like region-lock DVDs and Blu-rays) because with FedEx global 24-hour shipping there's literally no place your product is inaccessible from.
Need to keep up appearances the world is still neatly carved up into sociopolitical zones in business.
There really should be a single, global registry for all trademarks, because, with the internet, every business is a global business.
In fact, we could use "whois" for all our trademark needs.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
"Grossly exaggerating" the power of "media barons", think about that for a second. Think about what you just wrote.
This is the same company changed the name of its "passport" service a ludicrous amount of times:-
.NET Passport, Microsoft Passport Network, and most recently Windows Live ID)"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_account
"Microsoft Account (previously Microsoft Wallet, Microsoft Passport,
I'd have said that MS's stupidly confusing naming is marketing-over-clarity, but *it's not even good marketing!!* I bet the man on the street doesn't have a clue what MS's constantly-changing brands-of-the-week are supposed to mean to him anyway, beyond being a confusing and counter-productive mish-mash of pseudo-terminology.
The quintessential ironic example of how MS just don't get it was their (then-)latest media-player compatibility scheme called "Plays for Sure" which obviously implied Apple-style "no brainer just works" straightforwardness. They proceeded to totally undermine this by renaming it to tie in with "Certified for Windows Vista" (which also encompassed other schemes) and launched a separate, incompatible DRM/compatibility scheme for their now-defunct Zune range. Does anyone know (or care) what MS's attention-deficit clusterf*** of overlapping brands are supposed to mean?!
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
> There really should be a single, global registry for all trademarks, because, with the internet, every business is a global business.
That fact that a corporation can hijack language and have an artificial monopoly on a word is bullshit to begin with.
Don't you mean Sky.NET?
/* No Comment */
Ya... the anti MS sentiment here is prolific and constantly reminds me that many people are still stuck in the 90s (poor souls)
...cause nobody outside of the UK gives a shit about Sky, and I am sure a few in the UK feel the same way.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
They could go with the highly successful WindowsRT campaign and call it "DriveRT"
MS just shit on too many people
And that does not change that British courts are insane. Justice is not very just if it only applies to some people and not to others (disclosure: my judiciary is insane, too!). Would it be okay to only enforce laws against your political party? This is why the cornerstone of western jurisprudence is a "blind judiciary".
So they may claim, but alas for them, they do not actually own that trademark.
/* No Comment */
Just call it Bob. Where is the file? Bob has it. Bring the files with you. No worries, Bob will.
Nope, that's the brand name of that new flying car on display at Airventure this week.
"This is quite a big branding issue for Microsoft."
Oh yeah, I'm sure the owners of hotmail.com/live.com/outlook.com, MSN Search/Windows Live Search/Bing, and MSN Messenger/Windows Live Messenger/Office Communicator/Lync are lying in bed awake at night over this.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
That fact that a corporation can hijack language and have an artificial monopoly on a word is bullshit to begin with.
No it isn't. Trade mark is reputation. Without it, you could buy something labeled Coca Cola and get municipal tap water.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Call it DevNull. Because that's what will eventually happen when you store your data "in the cloud".
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
MS had quite a catchy name there. I do find it odd that the article said nothing about Sky Broadcasting having a trademark on (or even using) "SkyDrive" - it seems that they're claiming ownership over anything with the word "sky" in it, and that MS is conceding. Yikes.
with a name like that, it must be good!
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
I wonder if you are being serious or don't realize the irony of your statement.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
What about MS Cloud? That matches their Word processor.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Is IoneSkyeDrive taken?
Seems to have worked before
...or a trademark on the word "window"?
Windows, Word. SQL Server,..
I suggest "Microsoft Cloud".
Now trademark trouble over the name SkyDrive.
But on the other hand, for a British Judge to rule that any use of the word Sky with preceding or trailing letters in any combination somehow violates a someone else's brand name is a bit of a stretch. It seem more based on the fact it was an American company they could pick on easily. I'm pretty sure the SkyTrain brand name is still held by someone, even if they are no longer in business.
There were plans afoot to integrate skydrive more tightly with Windows 8.x anyway so it may become a moot point,
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Um, that's assuming that there is "no place" outside capital cities in most of the world's countries. Good luck getting FedEx to deliver a DVD to my brother-in-law's house in Arequipa, Peru. Never mind that it's the second-largest city in the country, as far as FedEx is concerned anything outside of a ten or twelve block radius of the main post office doesn't exist. They don't think that the town of Puno, a provincial capital where we have a house, exists at all. Not that I disagree with your basic premise, just that I think FedEx exaggerates their service a wee bit.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
It's not on BSkyB,
BSkyB is a shortform for British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC.
They use "Sky" in branding for all sorts of stuff, notably Sky Broadband and Sky Subscriber Services (which is their TV offering).
In that context, an internet cloud service calling itself Sky-something sounds like it's part of the Sky services, which it of course isn't. And Microsoft has no real claim on the 'Sky' brand, so they're SOL.
I know we all hate MS here, but doesn't it worry you that you can't have a product name with the word Sky in it.
I mean if MS renamed themselves to SkySoft or something maybe...and even then...
Seems like we just gave this company a bunch of free publicity that wasn't actually being harmed. Was anyone confused by the names?
They will just call it The Cloud and take advantage of all the free material advertising use of "The Cloud". Think of all the presentations you've seen with "The Cloud" - yup, that is Microsoft! Kind of like they did with "SQL Server" back in the day.
How about SkyDive? As in, what their relevance in the tech industry is doing.
sig: sauer
Nice - funniest comment I've seen all week :-)
It gripped her hand gently. 'Regret is for humans,' it said.
How much power did feudal barons have and over how much territory or how many people?
Under some measures, "media baron" may be insulting the reach of such figures.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
That's Genius! SkyDrive will now be known as WinRT. Now that's some unified branding.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
What Sky is contesting isn't a trademark on "SkyDrive", but on "SkyWhateverYouPutHere", much like Apple argued over iWhatever. This is just ridiculous...
No, although Sky already tried to sue them for that! They failed on that count.
I think the decision is fair in the UK. Most people wouldn't think Skype had anything to do with Sky, but Sky Drive does sound like a product Sky might release to its broadband customers.
They've branched out from Sky Broadband and offered other internet services under the Sky brand before. One failed attempt was Sky Songs, I thought Sky Tunes would have sounded better but perhaps they were advised not to.
In the UK it's a fact that people associate the Sky brand with BSkyB particularly in the entertainment and broadband industries. Sky was well known in the UK before most people owned computers.
Microsoft vs Murdoch
One of those court cases you'd like both to lose - and one where you don't mind the lawyers leeching off their funds.
Now if only it had dragged on longer we may have seen both sides suffering from, and distracted by, the case.
Microsoft vs Murdoch empire, I just don't know which hero to cheer for.
Someone needs to mod this up!
There are two things Microsoft doesn't have a fucking clue understanding:
* Marketing - as you succinctly point out
* UI -- do you read a book in UPPERCASE? So why are ALL the menu items NOW IN UPPERCASE?!?!
Actually I would say the epitome of Microsoft Marketing was them producing the internal what not to do "Microsoft Re-Designs the iPod Package" which satires their packaging to a "T".
* Microsoft Re-Designs the iPod Package
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUXnJraKM3k
* Microsoft confirming they orginally made the parody
http://www.ipodobserver.com/ipo/article/Microsoft_Confirms_it_Originated_iPod_Box_Parody_Video/
To remain consistent Microsoft will have to reverse all names to keep it's brand strategy. CEO MerBall, who has taken charge of the One Xbox he is trying to sell, will still try not to be your typical DRM laden, Soft Micro computer dealer. He is hard as nails in charting his org and it is a surprise with the mainstay of his operations, Swodniw and all of the 365 Office subscriptions customers want to buy, instead of own, he is still on top. No real reason as to why he would rename Windows so close to the arch villan Snowden, maybe to show that he is still hip with the younger generation? Remember Soft Micro has changed. :/
Society use your Sciences
^This.
Google had a similar problem with Gmail in the UK, so called it Googlemail in that territory. After a while they came to some kind of agreement with the name owner and were able to use Gmail.
How about "Cumulodumbass"?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
What else?
Yes, obviously, one company should own a trademark on any product containing the work "Sky" in it.
Trademarks are limited to particular goods and services, but for the Sky trademark this includes "computer aided transmission of messages and images", "home computing services", "computer programs", etc. As BSkyB are also a broadband ISP in the UK, it seems reasonable that they've registered the mark to include those goods and services.
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU000126425
...... So how exactly is it a "me too" service?
You're right. They should call it suck my Ballmer drive.
We're selling it in he UK. And its sort of cloud-like. So lets call it London Fog.
Have gnu, will travel.
At least one person...
Most linux users don't know this, but the man pages were named after Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris fsck'ing hates noobs!
LiveDrive? Or the Windows 8 version... WhyDrive?
Please stop encouraging M$ marketing nut jobs to spoil my nick again.
No one. Just hope the battles goes on and damages them both.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
No, the problem lies in the British courts. Giving one company total ownership of the word "sky" is stupid. SkyDrive is in a product category that BSkyB isn't in and that it has no plans to enter, and BSkyB is not a pervasive brand on the level of Coca-Cola. (Branding ANYTHING with the name Coca-Cola would be seen as infringing, and rightly so, but Coca-Cola is also not an ordinary English language word like Sky is.) An intelligent court would have seen the SkyDrive brand as non-infringing.
The sad fact to me is that Microsoft isn't appealing this stupid decision. But they have probably decided that the EU courts will favor the local company over the big American bully, even when the American company is right on the facts. They should have also gone to the courts for Metro, but presumably didn't because the Metro store chain in Germany is a major seller of Microsoft products and Microsoft didn't want to antagonize them.
Murdoch vs Microsoft, IMHO Murdoch is worse. At least Microsoft isn't actively subverting political processes through media control. FTFY