Tardis Wars: The BBC Strikes Back

New submitter Elixon writes: Czech trademark monitoring service IP Defender reported that The British Broadcasting Corporation applied for a figurative trademark on the "POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX" for wide range of goods and services like cinematographic and photographic films, printed publications, key chains, textile goods, toys, telecommunications and more. The Metropolitan Police was defeated by the BBC in the past while trying to monopolize the London police box; now it's the BBC's turn.

Comments

is it just me

[thaylin]

or did this post confuse other people?

Re:is it just me

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

The Metropolitan Police was defeated by the BBC in the past while trying to monopolize the London police box; now its the BBC's turn.

I think it's supposed to mean that it's BBC's turn to try monopolizing the London police box and be defeated later on.

Re:is it just me

[gstoddart]

The summary is confusing, the second from last article is easier:

In the 50's, there used to be police call boxes. Also in the 50's, the TARDIS was a police call box. The police have since stopped using those boxes.

At one point the Met tried to assert trademark on the police call boxes. They got told that since other police departments used them, it wasn't a trademark of the Met, but more of a general thing.

Now, the BBC is saying that the police public call box is now inextricably linked to the TARDIS and wish to have it declared as their trademark.

And, since nobody else has been using the police call box for anything except as the TARDIS -- depending on who you ask, it is now an image uniquely associated with Dr. Who, and could therefore be a valid trademark.