yes. along with band-aid, kleenex, tampax, I know the dangers a firm runs into when their product name becomes too popular. but you're forgetting two things:
1) your examples were names the company came up with themselves. "Thermos", "Xerox", they didn't outright exist in the first place. "Movie buff", or (insert foo here) buff, however, has been used in general discussion extensively, probably second only to "movie fan".
2) sure, if I was selling movies, I'd be able to like to use the term "movie buff". But I sure as hell wouldn't register such a generic term, nor would I care if anyone else used it realising that is is so generic. Again, that's what I'm arguing. The fact that they were allowed to register that is simply disgusting.
Sure, you can lose the trademark (nevermind that usually comes after some absurd number of court cases). But in this incidence, it shouldn't have been an allowed trademark in the first place.
When some firm trademarks a symbol/phrase, etc., it is usually very specific, ie., certain specifications (color, font, context) are in place to specify a given medium or product/service. This court judgment, expands that field of use to an absurdly large scope.
This still doesn't deny the realisation that "moviebuff" or "movie buff", or variations thereof, are commonplace words. How many times do you think Robert Ebert has been called a "movie buff"? How many "moviebuffs" cast their predictions that Shakespeare in Love would sweep the Academy Awards? How many "movie buffs" are already standing in line for star wars tickets?
The fact that the company was able to register "moviebuff" as a protected term is just asanine.
visit the seemingly-innocent Pez website, click on the apparently-friendly cop dispenser, and you end up reading the frighteningly-scary legal notice about the Pez copyrights and trademarks. They mention META tag references, as well as plenty of other equally absurd material.
Hmph, according to their site, I'm probably violating copyright laws just posting this. Screw fair-use laws, they don't give a hoot. Boycott Pez!
never have I felt so out of date, until I've realised that my linux box is already way behind (still have 2.2.2), because it doesn't have a net connection.
On a slightly off topic, can anyone point me to that comparison of linux v nt with the.1 and.01 database comparisons? I can't find that article on/. anywhere...
That something like this could only further garner the OSS/GPL movements. In the past, it's been hard to compare "pay" v "free software"; it's almost as if they were within two separate realms.
However, if the playing field were to become level, ie., it becomes an issue of "ads" v. "no ads", it seems to me that the support base for open-sourcing, etc., could only increase...
A good compromise would be simply make it illegal/impossible to actually sell a domain until it has been paid for in the first place.
Incidentally, I'm somewhat certain there's a URL or some other resource that you can check to see if a domain is registered already, but I dunno it offhand.
Adding any sort of chat client into mozilla undermine any effort to release a streamlined, fast browser, and of course, needlessly increase package size.
The only one's I'd truly see benefiting from this would be the *nix users -- but even then, there are still plenty of AIMish implementations out there.
...and when's the last time you've seen a *nix geek complain that he wasn't getting a fully-packaged, pretty, bloated suite of utilities with his proprietary software?;)
Destroying the planet
on
Gene Leakage
·
· Score: 1
>and yet, when Mount Pinatubo erupted in the >Philipines a few years ago, it's been said that >more carbon dioxide was expelled into the >atmosphere by that eruption than man has created >in his entire existance.
It's common knowledge that nature produces more air 'pollutants' than we do. However, the pollutant compounds are not nearly as complex as the ones we make.
Furthermore, I'm fairly certain that since the manmade pollutants are heavier, they tend to float around closer to the ground, and thus you inhale them; also, their weight tends lead them to accumulate, ie., they don't dilute and become less toxic.
historical environmentalists
on
Gene Leakage
·
· Score: 1
>The nazis did that with the german resentment >against the WWI defeat and economic crisis, >and wanted a 1000 years empire. They destroyed >their own country and it took half a century for >Germany to have again some influence in >international affairs.
half a centurly later, a plane flew over a patch of trees only to realise that there were two species, grown in such a way that a swastika showed up in the middle of them. The army had planted trees to keep a lasting influence.
trying to compare environmental concern to a fascist regime, though, is a load.
One form of regulation that I'd agree with, and that would cut down on a great deal of the hoarding, would be to make it impossible to sell/lease a domain until it has been paid for. It should be impossible to sell a domain within the 90 day grace period.
Most of the domains being sold out there are just that, squatted, without any paid registration. Anytime someone sells a domain, the new owner has to basically re-register it anyway, with his/her $75, thus, it's basically no loss to the scalper.
However, making sure a domain is truly registered -- as opposed to squatted -- before 'trade' can take place would be a viable solution.
What laws, if any, does Germany have regarding parody material?
Nonetheless, this is just another example of Microsoft "might-makes-right" tactics, something that can't help the trial any, regardless of the geographic location of this division.
I'm no John McCain fan, but his statement on Crossfire last night: I am very skeptical because all three of us, being students of history, know that the last time, I think, that air power won was when Zeus used to have an unlimited supply of thunderbolts.
Heard something on the news recently; a guy who'd been convicted of of rape multiple times was chemically castrated, as part of his sentence. was controversial, at the time, indeed.
Following his release from prison, he raped again.
I guess it's time to play Pass the Blame. Go ahead, continually raise the prices of cd, while, at the same time, reduce the amount of music I get with a purchase, and the blame the MP3 groups for your losses.
It's always seemed readily apparent to me that the amount of piracy in any industry is directly proportional to a product whose price far surpasses what would seem to be a reasonable fee, based on the demand.
Granted, a CD could cost $10.00, and you'd still have MP3 piracy. But MP3 can't be solely to blame , IMO.
..that's basic small print from your typical contest entry. It's just there to tell the prizewinner that their name, etc., can be used in promotion. Not uncommon at all....
I've always wondered about MS's name... I know it shows up in Gibson's Neuromancer:
: The counters that fronted the booths displayed :hundreds of slivers of microsoft, angular :fragments of colored silicon mounted :under oblong transparent bubbles on squares of :white cardboard. Molly went to the seventh booth :along the south wall.
Anyone else able to shed some light on this, or know other plausible origins for the term "microsoft"? Wouldn't it be funny if Gibson decided to sue MS for use of the name? heh.
Incidentally, for all you copyright fiends, you're generally allowed to quote sections of a publication...
Slashdot Mirror
yes. along with band-aid, kleenex, tampax, I know the dangers a firm runs into when their product name becomes too popular. but you're forgetting two things:
1) your examples were names the company came up with themselves. "Thermos", "Xerox", they didn't outright exist in the first place. "Movie buff", or (insert foo here) buff, however, has been used in general discussion extensively, probably second only to "movie fan".
2) sure, if I was selling movies, I'd be able to like to use the term "movie buff". But I sure as hell wouldn't register such a generic term, nor would I care if anyone else used it realising that is is so generic. Again, that's what I'm arguing. The fact that they were allowed to register that is simply disgusting.
Sure, you can lose the trademark (nevermind that usually comes after some absurd number of court cases). But in this incidence, it shouldn't have been an allowed trademark in the first place.
When some firm trademarks a symbol/phrase, etc., it is usually very specific, ie., certain specifications (color, font, context) are in place to specify a given medium or product/service. This court judgment, expands that field of use to an absurdly large scope.
This still doesn't deny the realisation that "moviebuff" or "movie buff", or variations thereof, are commonplace words. How many times do you think Robert Ebert has been called a "movie buff"? How many "moviebuffs" cast their predictions that Shakespeare in Love would sweep the Academy Awards? How many "movie buffs" are already standing in line for star wars tickets?
The fact that the company was able to register "moviebuff" as a protected term is just asanine.
visit the seemingly-innocent Pez website, click on the apparently-friendly cop dispenser, and you end up reading the frighteningly-scary legal notice about the Pez copyrights and trademarks. They mention META tag references, as well as plenty of other equally absurd material.
Hmph, according to their site, I'm probably violating copyright laws just posting this. Screw fair-use laws, they don't give a hoot. Boycott Pez!
never have I felt so out of date, until I've realised that my linux box is already way behind (still have 2.2.2), because it doesn't have a net connection.
.1 and .01 database comparisons? I can't find that article on /. anywhere...
On a slightly off topic, can anyone point me to that comparison of linux v nt with the
That something like this could only further garner the OSS/GPL movements. In the past, it's been hard to compare "pay" v "free software"; it's almost as if they were within two separate realms.
However, if the playing field were to become level, ie., it becomes an issue of "ads" v. "no ads", it seems to me that the support base for open-sourcing, etc., could only increase...
I've posted this before, but I'll do it again...
A good compromise would be simply make it illegal/impossible to actually sell a domain until it has been paid for in the first place.
Incidentally, I'm somewhat certain there's a URL or some other resource that you can check to see if a domain is registered already, but I dunno it offhand.
agreed --
;)
Adding any sort of chat client into mozilla undermine any effort to release a streamlined, fast browser, and of course, needlessly increase package size.
The only one's I'd truly see benefiting from this would be the *nix users -- but even then, there are still plenty of AIMish implementations out there.
...and when's the last time you've seen a *nix geek complain that he wasn't getting a fully-packaged, pretty, bloated suite of utilities with his proprietary software?
>and yet, when Mount Pinatubo erupted in the >Philipines a few years ago, it's been said that >more carbon dioxide was expelled into the >atmosphere by that eruption than man has created >in his entire existance.
It's common knowledge that nature produces more air 'pollutants' than we do. However, the pollutant compounds are not nearly as complex as the ones we make.
Furthermore, I'm fairly certain that since the manmade pollutants are heavier, they tend to float around closer to the ground, and thus you inhale them; also, their weight tends lead them to accumulate, ie., they don't dilute and become less toxic.
>The nazis did that with the german resentment
>against the WWI defeat and economic crisis,
>and wanted a 1000 years empire. They destroyed
>their own country and it took half a century for
>Germany to have again some influence in
>international affairs.
half a centurly later, a plane flew over a patch of trees only to realise that there were two species, grown in such a way that a swastika showed up in the middle of them. The army had planted trees to keep a lasting influence.
trying to compare environmental concern to a fascist regime, though, is a load.
One form of regulation that I'd agree with, and that would cut down on a great deal of the hoarding, would be to make it impossible to sell/lease a domain until it has been paid for. It should be impossible to sell a domain within the 90 day grace period.
Most of the domains being sold out there are just that, squatted, without any paid registration. Anytime someone sells a domain, the new owner has to basically re-register it anyway, with his/her $75, thus, it's basically no loss to the scalper.
However, making sure a domain is truly registered -- as opposed to squatted -- before 'trade' can take place would be a viable solution.
What laws, if any, does Germany have regarding parody material?
Nonetheless, this is just another example of Microsoft "might-makes-right" tactics, something that can't help the trial any, regardless of the geographic location of this division.
uhh, genius, 2600 is perhaps the strongest supporter of Mitnick's cause.
more brilliance from anonyimity.
...not when Network Solutions is enouraging people to "Consider securing your dot net and dot org Web Addresses as well."
Unfortunately, they stopped paying attention to the proper way to do things long ago.
Bore.
D*F*U*T
*E*A*L*
Checked enough?
Chess anyone?
I'm no John McCain fan, but his statement on Crossfire last night:
I am very skeptical because all three of us,
being students of history, know that the last time, I think, that air power won was when Zeus used to have an unlimited supply of thunderbolts.
..was pretty darn accurate.
you forgot the most important one....
"Transmeta releases new product."
even the Ufies site (http://ufies.userfriendly.org/) is down too. They covered all the bases ;)
Heard something on the news recently; a guy who'd been convicted of of rape multiple times was chemically castrated, as part of his sentence. was controversial, at the time, indeed.
Following his release from prison, he raped again.
...a statement that will later be on the list of famous Gates-isms, second only to his "640k" comment.
I guess it's time to play Pass the Blame. Go ahead, continually raise the prices of cd, while, at the same time, reduce the amount of music I get with a purchase, and the blame the MP3 groups for your losses.
It's always seemed readily apparent to me that the amount of piracy in any industry is directly proportional to a product whose price far surpasses what would seem to be a reasonable fee, based on the demand.
Granted, a CD could cost $10.00, and you'd still have MP3 piracy. But MP3 can't be solely to blame , IMO.
it's been said that he has been, at least at some point recently, been considering running for Gov. of Georgia. Who knows.
..that's basic small print from your typical contest entry. It's just there to tell the prizewinner that their name, etc., can be used in promotion. Not uncommon at all....
: The counters that fronted the booths displayed
:hundreds of slivers of microsoft, angular
:fragments of colored silicon mounted
:under oblong transparent bubbles on squares of
:white cardboard. Molly went to the seventh booth
:along the south wall.
Anyone else able to shed some light on this, or know other plausible origins for the term "microsoft"? Wouldn't it be funny if Gibson decided to sue MS for use of the name? heh.
Incidentally, for all you copyright fiends, you're generally allowed to quote sections of a publication...
Mr Gore, you didn't invent the "internet". rather, you just invented that God-awful term, "the Information Superhighway".