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Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 11:30 pm
by Thad
From what I read on Techdirt, it sounds like a case of overconfident lawyers figuring their case was so obvious that they didn't actually have to make it.

On the other hand, it's entirely possible that it's a case of biased and/or out-of-touch judges. I remember an anecdote in The Real Frank Zappa Book where Frank described an incident in a UK court where the judge did not know what a record was and someone had to explain it to him.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 11:49 pm
by Mongrel
Thad wrote:On the other hand, it's entirely possible that it's a case of biased and/or out-of-touch judges. I remember an anecdote in The Real Frank Zappa Book where Frank described an incident in a UK court where the judge did not know what a record was and someone had to explain it to him.


Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 11:55 pm
by Mongrel
Oh this is a nice touch.
EDITOR'S NOTE: On Jan. 17, the Washington Examiner published a story with the headline "Not even the EU is that stupid: McDonald's hasn't really lost the trademark to 'Big Mac'." The author drew a conclusion from his conversation with the Supermac company that was incorrect. You can read the judicial ruling here. The story did not meet the Washington Examiner's editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled. The Washington Examiner apologizes to our readers.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 11:57 pm
by Blossom
Failing to defend their trademark in any meaningful way is probably what got the trademark pulled.

It would be nice to pretend that if they had done enough to preserve the trademark, they still wouldn't be able to apply a trademark on "Big Mac" against a restaurant named "Supermacs" with a self-titled burger.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:02 am
by Mongrel
TA wrote:It would be nice to pretend that if they had done enough to preserve the trademark, they still wouldn't be able to apply a trademark on "Big Mac" against a restaurant named "Supermacs" with a self-titled burger.


I think that might still be possible. They are two different terms and a court can choose to rule that only the exact term is a trademark, I think? Mac/Mc itself is too generic to copyright, being a very basic word.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 4:09 am
by Blossom
Yes, a court could easily rule that way. It would even make a lot of sense for them to rule that way.

Not gonna happen.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 8:15 am
by beatbandito
It sadly probably will, but I fully support this challenge.

It's not like other places are trying to advertise that they're "Home of the Big Mac". The copyright is so aggressive that a burger chain called "Supermac" isn't allowed to be called "Supermac" because it's close to the name of a menu item at McDonalds. That kind of shit is a silly abuse and something I'd love to see havens from other than the moon.

Besides, over there it's a "Royale with Cheese".

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 1:17 pm
by Mongrel
It annoys me irrationally that I keep seeing that joke and thinking "THAT'S THE QUARTER-POUNDER".

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 3:46 pm
by beatbandito
It's also an Irish company, so it's actually known as a Hasselhoff.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 5:30 pm
by Mongrel
beatbandito wrote:It's also an Irish company, so it's actually known as a Cárdú Hásselfraú.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 5:36 pm
by atog
what kind of pidgin gaelic is that? smh

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:07 pm
by Thad
TA wrote:Yes, a court could easily rule that way. It would even make a lot of sense for them to rule that way.

Not gonna happen.

I dunno, how does the EU compare to the US in terms of trademark law?

I know they helped create our current fucked-up life-plus copyright system.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:53 pm
by Mongrel
Thad wrote:
TA wrote:Yes, a court could easily rule that way. It would even make a lot of sense for them to rule that way.

Not gonna happen.

I dunno, how does the EU compare to the US in terms of trademark law?

I know they helped create our current fucked-up life-plus copyright system.

I was thinking about this yesterday, and I realized I have no clue what legal tradition EU-wide law follows. European legal systems are generally all derived from Civil Law (which is descended from Roman Law, via Canon Law), rather than the Common Law of the English-speaking world, but there's several very distinct flavours of Civil law, such as Napoleonic, German, Nordic, mixed systems, etc.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 1:18 am
by Mongrel

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2019 10:54 am
by nosimpleway
Looks like they're still using ketchup and mayo to top their sandwiches. If they wanted sandwiches convincingly like a Big Mac, they'd mix them together.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:02 pm
by Thad
If you have some free time and want to read some enjoyable excerpts of a judge reading the riot act to a copyright troll: Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz Benchslapped And Sanctioned AGAIN In A Massive Filing Detailing Pages Upon Pages Of Him Lying Under Oath

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 12:04 am
by Thad
Today in "we're living in a cyberpunk dystopia": Heated seats as a service? BMW wants to sell car features on demand

(so it's like on-disc "DLC" but for your car)

(and boy I sure can't imagine any kind of scenario where allowing people to disable your adaptive cruise control remotely over the Internet might have any kind of negative consequences)

I remember a Philip K Dick short story where everything in the character's apartment is coin-operated. Has to put a quarter in every time he wants to open the front door, turn on the TV, open the fridge, etc. Dick was ahead of his time.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 3:36 am
by IGNORE ME
I think Romo's Tesla has already passed its "trial period" for ACC and some other stuff, so as usual you can thank Silicon Valley for courageously normalizing this terrible practice. My Audi has a bunch of infotainment things that are disabled unless I want to pay $30/mo but it's mostly maps and other things I might be too lazy to just plug my phone in for.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 4:49 am
by Mongrel
Thad wrote:I remember a Philip K Dick short story where everything in the character's apartment is coin-operated. Has to put a quarter in every time he wants to open the front door, turn on the TV, open the fridge, etc. Dick was ahead of his time.


I was literally joking cynically just this afternoon about the US becoming more like Ferenginar every day, using the specific example of them having to do exactly this.

Re: Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents, and branding irons

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 8:43 am
by Niku
And if you think Musk Jr. cutting your brakes remotely when you make fun of him on Twitter is bad, just imagine how much more insufferable classic car enthusiasts are going to be.

(Also fucking with someone’s car over the internet is literally the entire point of the murder mystery in Greg Daniel’s cynical new comedy about mega corporations, Upload. Now streaming exclusively on Amaz oh for FUCK’S SAKE DRAMATIC IRONY)