Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

AOL Trademarks nixed

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the losing-the-bad-fight dept.

Robert Wilde writes "A small dose of sanity in the world of trademarks, according to a ZDNN story; the courts have ruled AOL doesn't own "You've got mail," "IM," or "buddy list." " So, I suppose that means my copyright for "E-Commerce Solution" and "E-mail" is probably out as well.

6 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. News flash by MrEd · · Score: 5

    Today it was also discovered that, contrary to popular belief, Microsoft Corp. does not own the trademarks to "General Protection Fault", "Fatal Exception Error" or "Please restart your computer".

    --

    Wah!

  2. more informative url: by / · · Score: 3

    Here

    --
    "If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
  3. Good. by Accipiter · · Score: 4
    That's a good thing, because I have a habit of going out to my mailbox (the one on my lawn), coming back to the house, and saying "Mom, You've got Mail." (Although, I avoid using the goofy voice.)

    Now I don't have to add: "the phrase 'You've got Mail' is a registered trademark of America Online, Inc." That kinda annoyed the family.

    What about the people who don't know how to use proper punctuation? The ones who say "Im going to the mall." Do they have to pay AOL for the use of the term "IM"?

    /SARCASM

    Although this brings up an interesting point....Did AOL own that patent at any time BEFORE this ruling? There was that movie "You've got Mail" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Did they have to pay AOL royalties for that title? Aren't they entitled to get those royalties back?

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

    --

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
    (If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't. :P)

  4. The classy way to handle infringements ... by SirSlud · · Score: 3

    My favorite trademark infringement story ever:

    Apple had a habit of naming it's internal secret projects after various things. One project was dubbed internally as "Sagan", with respect to, of course, the sci-fi writer Carl Sagan. Carl Sagan learned of this and threatened to sue Apple for the unauthorized use of his name. Apple quickly complied, chaning the name of the project to "Stuck-up astronomer." Or so the story goes.

    Heehee.

    --
    "Old man yells at systemd"
  5. Wait a minute by JohnZed · · Score: 3

    Well, Instant Messenger as a tradmark isn't really ridiculous. For AT&T to come out with a similar product and give it an identical name is really shady. What if Mitsubishi came out with a car called the "Plymouth" and argued that, hey, Plymouth is a popular name. Bullsh*@#$%&t. We don't complain about IBM which has a TM on "International Business Machines", and I don't see how you can get much more generic than that.
    It's just fashionable to bust on MS and AOL these days.
    --JRZ

  6. URL for the whole story by Otto · · Score: 3

    For those interested...

    http://www.wolfstonelaw.com/saganslande r.html
    ---

    --
    - Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.