Episode 28: Bond, James Bond
Mininova turns away from a life of crime, Yahoo and Verizon don’t want to disclose their price lists for government spying, and the EFF sues to see how the Government spies on us using Facebook.
Please download the podcast. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, e-mail us.
Mininova goes straight and narrow
Mininova buries pirate booty in its index, aims to go legit
Mininova limits its activities to Content Distribution service
Mininova considers appealing in Brein case
Mininova ordered to purge all links to copyrighted files
Verizon, Yahoo! refuse to disclose price lists
Yahoo, Verizon: Our Spy Capabilities Would ‘Shock’, ‘Confuse’ Consumers
Yahoo!’s Response Letter
Verizon’s Response Letter
Sprint fed customer GPS data to cops over 8 million times
Slight Paranoia
Yahoo! Sends Takedown for Price List
EFF sues of Gov’t Facebook Policies
EFF sues feds for info on social-network surveillance
The Complaint
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Posted in: Podcast on December 7, 2009
Is There an Impending DROID Fight?
Verizon recently announced two phones branded with the “DROID” mark. One of the phones is made by Motorola, the other by HTC. The name likely comes from the fact that both phones run the Android operating system.
Typically a trademark answers the question “Where am I from?” Not, “What am I?” For example, Swingline on your red stapler lets you know that the stapler is from Swingline. It doesn’t tell you that it’s a stapler.
DROID here doesn’t fall into either category. It doesn’t particularly tell you where it’s from, because the phones are on Verizon but made by two different companies. It also doesn’t describe the product itself.
Regardless, if Verizon filed for a trademark on the name DROID for cell phones, they would probably be given the trademark.
That is, if Lucasfilm hasn’t beaten them to it.
On October 9th, Lucasfilm filed an applcation to register the word “DROID” for “Wireless communications devices, including, mobile phones, cell phones, hand held devices and personal digital assistants.” The serial number is 77845682, and you can search for the application through the TESS Engine at the Trademark office. Sadly, I can’t find a way to directly link to it.
We’ll follow this as it develops because a lot of issues might arise if these two companies clash. Stay tuned.
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Posted in: Commentary on November 5, 2009
