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26 May 2011 16:14

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Politics: Disney abandons plan to trademark “Seal Team 6”

  • then In the aftermath of the killing of Osama bin Laden, when most people were either earnestly celebrating, or having thoughtful discussions about why they weren’t, Disney was trying to trademark “Seal Team 6,” the name of the unit that did the deed.
  • now With the Navy applying for trademarks on both “Navy SEAL” (nobody ever tried to trademark “Navy SEAL” before?) and “Team 6,” Disney has scrapped their plans, citing “deference to the Navy.” We think the initial idea sort of discredits that notion. source

18 Feb 2011 21:20

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Tech: Twitter goes after UberTwitter, looks pretty lame in the process

  • We’ve had conversations with UberMedia, the developer of these applications, about policy violations since April 2010, when they first launched under the name TweetUp – a term commonly used by Twitter users and a trademark violation. We continue to be in contact with UberMedia and hope that they will bring the suspended applications into compliance with our policies soon.
  • A message from Twitter • Revealing that they had temporarily banned some of the most popular third-party apps on their system – Twidroid, UberTwitter and UberCurrent – for their unauthorized usage of Twitter copyright in their apps. UberMedia, which owns all three of these apps, has quickly become the most-powerful third-party developer in the Twitter ecosystem, and recently bought the also-offending Tweetdeck (which hasn’t been shut down). While UberMedia is working hard to fix the problems, the real question is why Twitter had to do this in the first place. These apps helped make Twitter popular. Now that Twitter is huge, all of a sudden they’re going to be the heavies? Not sure how we feel about this, honestly. source

14 Apr 2010 22:21

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Politics: In Florida, bizarro hippies are suing over the movement’s name

  • Who are the real bizarro hippies, anyway? In December, just after the election that will prove whether or not the movement actually has steam, different strains of Florida hippies will find themselves in a courtroom debating if anyone has ownership of the the name. After lawyer Fred O’Neal registered the name for a political party, it became a big issue, especially after he and his partner Doug Guetzloe started strong-arming fellow groups not to use the name. Those fighting against O’Neal and Guetzloe claim they aren’t “real” bizarro hippies. Do they have tests for this? source

17 Mar 2010 10:41

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Tech: Oops. Someone forgot to register “Nexus One” as a trademark

  • The U.S. Patent and trademark Office denied Google’s mark. Seems Google was so busy selling its powerful cell phone online only (and hurting its bottom line) that they forgot to come up with a name that wasn’t registered by someone else. In the case of the Nexus One, Integra Telecom registered a similar name a year before Google released the phone. Google can appeal the decision, pay Integra Telecom money or (our favorite) change the name of the phone. All in all, a lot of fun, undesirable options. source

05 Oct 2009 10:10

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Tech: Comparing apples to apples: Woolworths vs. … um, Apple

A row of apples
  • Woolworths apple Looks like a worm has already gotten to it, based on its loopy shape. It’s got a firm kind of plastic, which tells you that the apple is genetically modified. Is the subject of a scary lawsuit from the Apple on the right.
  • Bad apple Brown, a little shady on the inside. Makes you want to not eat it. We wanted to get a nice apple, but we were in a hurry this morning so we grabbed the very first apple off the tree we could find. Good enough for our purposes.
  • Apple logoNot very organic. Made of chrome. Probably tough to bite into. Probably a few transistors in there somewhere. Was sued heavily by a much more musical Apple back in the day, and is now paying it forward. Good job. source