trademark posts

FreshAIRApps becomes RefreshingApps, under fire from Adobe

by Jay Hathaway Jul 7th 2008

FreshAIRApps is, as its name would suggest, a directory of new Adobe AIR applications. As AIR has grown in popularity, we've started following the site more closely to see what's new in the AIR world. The only comparable site out there at the moment is Adobe's own AIR showcase. Because FreshAIRApps is such a great resource, it surprised us to hear reports that Adobe is upset with the site's owner over his use of the "Adobe® AIR™" trademark.

According to a message on the front page of FreshAIRApps, the site will continue as RefreshingApps.com, with the purpose of promoting the work of the developer community, not promoting Adobe. The site's owner says that the move caused him financial loss. No word from Adobe, although the message claims that the company's community evangelists think FreshAIRApps is good promotion for AIR.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: Adobe, Adobe AIR, AdobeAir, FreshAIRApps, RefreshingApps, trademark

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Google, web 2.0

Google loses appeal for Gmail trademark in Europe

by Danny Mendez Mar 20th 2008

Due to another company trademarking "G-Mail" in Germany, similar to Google's "Gmail" in the US, the search engine giant lost an appeal to use "Gmail" in the European Union. G-Mail stands for "Giersch Mail" in Germany, where Daniel Giersch runs an electronic postal delivery service -- if that's not email, we couldn't say what it is.

As a result, Gmail is now known as Google Mail in Europe. Google's email service is also known as Google Mail in the UK, where another company trademarked "Gmail" shortly after Google launched the service.

And the moral of the story is: The next time you launch any product or service, make sure to trademark the name before. As for Google, the company "got caught slippin" -- as we say in the hip hop world -- so too bad, so sad.

Tags: appeal, court, electronic postal delivery, ElectronicPostalDelivery, email, g-mail, gmail, google, law, lawsuit, legal, mail, trademark

Filed under: Internet, News

Fark wants to trademark NSFW, we're all like ROTFL

by Brad Linder Dec 10th 2007

If you've got a unique phrase that is clearly associated with your product, you can apply for a trademark and prevent other groups from using that phrase without permission. For example, an advertising jingle or slogan. We'd give you an example, but we don't want to get sued, so just hum the latest Coke, Pepsi, or any other beverage.

But there are some phrases that you would think would be beyond trademarking, because they're so widely used. For example, ROTFL, LOL, or NSFW. Well, nobody's trying to trademark your laughing abbreviations, but internet humor/bizarre link site Fark does want to trademark the term NSFW (or Not Safe For Work).

If you don't frequent the sorts of web pages where this kind of thing comes up, NSFW is an abbreviation that people stick next to a link that you might not want to click on while you're at the office with your boss looking over your shoulder. In other words, it usually signifies that the link would take you to a site with an adult theme.

The thing is, NSFW is pretty widely used. In fact, there's even a website called NSFW.com. You'd think if anyone qualifies for a trademark on the term, it would be that site. But we'd love to see anyone try to enforce a trademark on a term that pops up on user forums, newsgroups, chat rooms, blogs, user-generated news sites, video sites, and pretty much anywhere else on the internet.

[via Ars Technica]

Tags: Fark, NSFW, trademark

Filed under: Business, Google

American Airlines sues Google

by Chris Gilmer Aug 17th 2007

Google gets brought to court again in this classic case of trademark infringement for sponsored ads. This time American Airlines is in the high flying plaintiff's seat.

American Airlines have dropped a trademark case on Google's doorstep because Google allowed the purchasing and bidding on their trademarked name, which just happens to be two generic names butted together. What will the outcome be? Maybe just a little bad PR for AA.

Keywords brought to the table include:

American Airlines
Free AA Travel Offers
americanairlines.com
American Air Lines

Tags: american airlines, AmericanAirlines, google, lawsuit, legal, trademark

Filed under: Internet, News, Web services

US Patent and Trademark Office goes social

by Brad Linder Mar 5th 2007

It's not question that the United States patent system has got some issues. So what's the latest proposal by the US Patent and Trademark Office? Recruit the wisdom of the masses.

A pilot project launching soon will put patent applications up on the web, allowing visitors to the site to post comments. There'll also be a rating system for comments, pushing the most popular comments to the top of the list. In other words, users who visit Digg, Netscape, and other social news web sites will find the process pretty familiar, and could play a role in approving or rejecting patents.

The first items to go online will be about 250 patent applications related to software design. That's a field where it's quite likely that many visitors to the web site will have greater expertise than the patent officers reviewing the applications.

Tags: digg, netscape, patent, patent office, PatentOffice, patents, social, trademark, us patent and trademark office, UsPatentAndTrademarkOffice

Filed under: Business, E-mail, Web services, Google

Google loses European Gmail trademark battle

by Chris Gilmer Feb 1st 2007

Google has failed to win the Gmail name in a trademark battle in Europe. The name has been owned for over six years by a German entrepreneur that has founded a service called GMail, a same day mail delivery service. A body that is responsible for European community trademarks rejected the appeal from Google. Google had apparently tried to buy the rights for $250,000 but were shut down and saw to be threatening, aggressive, and unfaithful by the entrepreneur. Shortly after, the entrepreneur also mentioned that he also owned trademarks for Switzerland, Norway, and Monaco. Google had already had issues with the Gmail name in the UK, where a financial analytical software company settled with them out of court. Looks like Google will have to rename their Gmail email service to Google Mail all across Europe.

Tags: europe, gmail, google, law, lawsuit, trademark

Filed under: Internet, Security

Twenty years for a phisher

by Chris Gilmer Jan 17th 2007

What's better than spam? How about seeing a man found guilty of operating a phishing scheme face 101 years in prison? A 45 year old man in California was recently found guilty of posing as AOL's billing department and tricking people into giving him their credit card information, by using hacked Earthlink accounts and fraudulent web pages. Under the glorious Can-Spam Act, this guy has been convicted on multiple counts including wire fraud, and misuse of AOL trademark. So if you have noticed a little decrease in the amount of spam in your inbox, most likely it stems from cases like this. The government taking spam issues extremely seriously and laying down the law, it seems as though fewer and fewer spammers and phishers are in operation. Look out for final sentencing information that will be announced on June 11th for this case.

Tags: aol, can-spam, canspam act, CanspamAct, fraud, internet, phishing, scam, security, spam, spammer, trademark

Filed under: Business, Fun, Internet, Utilities, Web services, Google

Search for US Patents on Google

by Chris Gilmer Dec 14th 2006

Google has launched a Patent Search beta project. The new patent search allows users to look up and search the full text of US patents. You can choose to either search by patent number, inventor, filing date, or try your luck in the search box. Patents come from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and can be viewed as both text and original images which are great to look. Some of these documents on record date back to the 1790's. There are patents for everything listed here. Including one for a 1914 popcorn machine, a 1999 Jumping snail, and a 1920's Ouija board. Searching patents on the patent search beta is smooth. The inner workings tie in with and utilize a lot of the features that come from Google's Book Search. So if you have the need to search for patents, Google has you covered in one quick and easy location.

Don't forget to check out patents for the Artificial leg, and the Pocket Protector.

Tags: google, patents, search, trademark, us, us patents, UsPatents

Filed under: Internet, Google

Friendly reminder from Google: we don't want to be just anyone's verb

by David Chartier Nov 1st 2006

This summer, Google was both blessed and cursed with becoming a verb in the Oxford and Merriam-Webster english dictionaries. When it happened, Google thumped the trademark drum pretty hard, reminding people that "Sure, I'll google that" is fine when in reference to using their search engine, while "Oh! I googled that on Yahoo! and couldn't believe what I found!" will land you on their naughty list.

Interestingly, the search company just reviewed these intended uses of their name and trademark on their blog, reminding us which scenarios turn their lawyers' frowns upside down. While a lot of this might seem like the company is splitting hairs - after all, everyone in this day and age knows who Google is, right? - the original CNET article I linked contains trademark horror stories from the likes of Aspirin, Xerox and even more recently: Rollerblade. All suffered trademark woes because their names became common verbs that referred to their particular industries, instead of their specific products.

Could Google go the way of kleenex? Time will only tell, but let's hope not. The company has done a lot for search and the internets as we know them, and I would hate to see their contribution reduced to a lowercase 'g.'

Tags: google, merriam, name, oxford, slang, term, trademark, vocabulary, webster

Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, VoIP, P2P

Free worldwide calling from Skype?

by Chris Gilmer Jul 27th 2006

Skype, that wild Instant Messenger and Voip tool, has apparently applied for a trademark that could be a move towards free calling to any phone, worldwide.

Russell Shaw talks about how this patent could include free outbound calling to anywhere in the world, and not only from Skype user to Skype user. This new feature could mean that any Skype user could call any phone anywhere.

Some great news for Skype users for sure, but some really scary news for telecommunications companies worldwide.

[via ZDNet]

Tags: free calls, FreeCalls, im, instant messenger, InstantMessenger, phone, skype, trademark, voip

Filed under: News

Does O'Reilly own Web 2.0?

by Jordan Running May 26th 2006

"Web 2.0," depending on who you ask, is either the future of the Internet, a great buzzword for your résumé, or an overhyped cliché, but what everyone can agree on is the term's ubiquity. That's why, when publisher O'Reilly Media sent a cease-and-desist to Irish non-profit IT@Cork regarding their upcoming half-day Web 2.0 conference, the blogosphere did not take it lightly. How can O'Reilly own "Web 2.0," a term that gets 65 million hits, the vast majority of which are unrelated to O'Reilly, on Google? Yesterday O'Reilly's VP of Corporate Communications Sara Winge spoke up over at O'Reilly Radar on that very topic. O'Reilly's official take is this: O'Reilly coined the term Web 2.0 back in 2003 and CMP, which co-produces their Web 2.0 Conference, has filed to register the name as a service mark "for arranging and conducting live events, namely trade shows, expositions, business conferences and educational conferences in various fields of computers and information technology." Winge says they regret siccing the lawyers upon IT@Cork instead of just talking to them like people, but stand by their right to the name.

My take? I'm a little torn-after all, the ubiquity of the term is incontestable-but I'm tempted to say "oh, just let them have it." Their service mark, in my opinion, is sufficiently specific, i.e. it only applies to conferences and the like and won't enable them to go after, say, ZDNet for their Web 2.0 Explorer blog.

Tags: conference, legal, oreilly, Sara Winge, SaraWinge, servicemark, trademark, web 2.0, Web2.0, web20

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