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Tag Archives: trademark

Who ARE You (and Who Owns Your Website Trademarks), Anyway?

A borrowed image without source attribution

As you build your Influency, you’ll find that there are a lot of things to manage that you never thought of before Influency* became important to you. One is your digital assets—and there are a LOT of them, cast to all corners of the Internet.

When we started building out the content at Answer Guy Central some years ago, we made a decision about artwork that we’d incorporated into our pages. In short, if we hadn’t created the artwork, then we would link to it. This is a somewhat controversial idea and in one form or another has gone to court a few times; people who had created things didn’t want others to link to it because it could be seen as a misappropriation of copyrighted, trademarked, or at least there’s-no-dispute-who-owns-this-thing assets.

“SUPER BOWL” (I Said It!). Will NFL Lawyers Object?

Hello? National Football League? I’m about to use two words together that you don’t think I should be allowed to use. Are you ready?

SUPER BOWL.

That’s right, I said it. Super Bowl. Super Bowl, Super Bowl, Super Bowl. Come and get me, NFL. Nyah, nyah, nyah. In fact, here are pictures of The Super Bowl:

The Super Bowl

An undoctored Google Search on January 23 2013 for images related to The Super Bowl

Blogging, Search Engine Optimization, and Blogging ABOUT SEO

Yesterday I came across this piece on do-it-yourself Search Engine Optimization at ReadWriteWeb—or more specifically at ReadWriteStart, an offshoot of ReadWriteWeb aimed at getting things done for the small business person. I’ve quoted ReadWriteWeb quite a few times here; it’s one of those started as just a blog but has graduated to the world of “real journalism” web sites that’s managed its business change by hiring former real-world journalists, including my old pal David Strom.

That paragraph had way more information than one paragraph normally should. I talked about journalism, blogging, SEO, business change, and the fortunes of an old friend—all in 76 words. Yikes!

Justin Bieber! Joustin Beaver! Copyright! Trademark! Ouch!

Justin Bieber ... The Same As Joustin Beaver?

Do you know the difference between Justin Bieber and Joustin Beaver? Justin Bieber’s attorneys are afraid you won’t be able to. Can you say “cease and desist”?

Bieber’s attorneys have said exactly that to Joustin’ Beaver’s developers. The Joustin Beaver App, current available here in the iTunes store and here in the Android Market, may not be long for this world, so download the Beaver before the Bieber stops you.

Trademarks and copyrights are a subject I discuss here from time to time:

A Timeline of The Trademark Dispute Over Timeline (Patents)

Timeline

One of the things we do at Answer Guy Central is Intellectual Property Consulting. I don’t talk about that area of our expertise too often because … well, because it’s not very interesting. Besides, combined with our position in Search Engine Optimization, talking about Intellectual Property is so complicated that once I get started I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop!

Facebook’s Timeline Version, of all things, has given me a chance to talk about Intellectual Property.

The Cloud: Important. Cloud Services: Still Stealing

The Cloud.jpg

You’re in the cloud, right?

Well, of course you are. Even if you don’t think or talk about it using platitudes, there’s some application you use that works on The Internet instead of on your own computer or network. I’ve mentioned before that you need to start taking this “cloud” thing seriously.

When I wrote that piece on taking The Cloud seriously, I pointed out that I had set up my son with an Ubuntu installation that utilized exactly two pieces of software that didn’t come as part of his new operating system. One is Evernote, for taking notes easily, and the other is Dropbox, which gives you access to all of your important files from any computer.

(Copyright) Here’s a Picture Of YOU. Now, It Belongs To ME

Are you using that newfangled Twitter thing-a-ma-jigger? Are you using the oh-so-easy-to-upload-your-pictures-from TwitPic to add pictures to your tweets?

Stop It. Right Now.

A few weeks ago, TwitPic altered their terms of service. In so doing, TwitPic did a land grab that walks right up to (are they crossing it?) a line I’ll call “WE’RE GOING TO STEAL FROM YOU AND PRETEND THAT WE’RE DOING YOU A FAVOR”. Maybe TwitPic has good intentions. But I doubt it, and the new TwitPic Terms Of Service says they have the right to appropriate your copyrights. So I’ll say it again:

Did Ya Hear The One About The Lasek Eye Doctor & The Hooker?

I’ve been too busy to write for a couple of days. This makes me sad.

Not, however, as sad as it made me to hear that I might be responsible for any illegal things my clients do if I handle their Search Engine Optimization. A judge in the US District Court for South Carolina recently ruled that being an SEO Consultant for a company that sells counterfeit merchandise makes you essentially a co-conspirator.

Patents, Football, Software, and Business Process

A few weeks ago I came across an article in The New York Times that struck me. It was about Football, Software, and Patents and Copyrights, which might seem like subjects that shouldn’t be able to be discussed all together.

Guess Again.

To the disinterested, American football might look like a bunch of large men running around haphazardly, but it’s really a highly-choreographed exercise, at which success is determined not merely through physical prowess but by adaptability and excellence in change management.

Just like business.

Worse Than Facebook: Amazon Non-Unique Patent 7,739,139

Remember back in February when Facebook was awarded United States Patent 7669123 for Social Networking? Remember how little sense that made? Well, our friends at the United States Patents and Trademarks Office have set the bar for stupidity even higher. Friends, I give you USPTO example # 7,739,139 of not understanding what a patent is, or even what a patent is supposed to be for.

Patents Must Be Unique. Facebook’s 7,669,123 Isn’t.

Who Wants a Patent? Because they seem to be getting handed out for just about anything.

I’ve long believed that in general software patents are a very bad idea. This week the United States Patents and Trademarks Office set a new record for calling something unique that’s just not anything of the sort.

To start, let me state that I’m not an attorney. That said, I’ve dealt with Intellectual Property for a very long time and successfully defended against a trademark infringement claim when my software Uninstall for Windows was sued by the makers of the program Uninstaller. In fact, I got Uninstaller’s trademark invalidated. It was pretty much a matter of explaining common sense in a calm, rational manner to the USPTO.





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