John D 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (28)

• On the post: Girl Scouts Teaching The Wrong Lesson By Banning Online Sales

  

  John D ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2009 @ 08:43am

  Re: United Way

  ...um. The Boy Scouts also fall under United Way rules and they have no problem with online sales during their annual fundraiser.

• On the post: Man Sues Former Employer For Not Updating Whois… And Then Acting Stupid

  

  John D ( profile ), 22 Jan, 2009 @ 07:40am

  Re: Zipatoni or Meyerkord

  re: Meyerkord would have received emails from ICANN every six months.
  
  Working from the reasonable assumption that the email address of record for Meyerkord would have been through Zipatoni, how could Meyerkord have received said email? Those emails have been going to a Zipatoni.com address (which, as an ex-employee, Meyerkord probably doesn't have access to anymore).

• On the post: Isn't There An Easier Way To Tax Online Gambling?

  

  John D ( profile ), 17 Dec, 2008 @ 12:17pm

  Re: the whole pie.

  But it's not getting the whole pie. It's getting a dinky little slice that it has to spend a whole lot of time/money/manpower getting.

• On the post: New Zealand Copyright Minister Sneaks In 3 Strikes Law; Yells At Those Who Ask Why

  

  John D ( profile ), 10 Oct, 2008 @ 12:06pm

  So what's the problem

  All that needs to happen for for someone to make three unsubstantiated accusations of copyright infringement against her and/or some members of her family and wait for the fun to begin.

• On the post: Hasbro's Nightmare: Scrabulous Returns With New Name And (A Few) New Rules

  

  John D ( profile ), 31 Jul, 2008 @ 06:11am

  Re: settle down

  Hasbro did nothing "legally" wrong. This does not mean that what they did was necessarily the best business decision. What they did was annoy a whole bunch of people who liked one of their products. It was in Hasbro's best interest to have worked out some kind of deal with the Scrabulous brothers - unfortunately, much more so than it would have been in the brothers' best interest. Basically, from a public perception standpoint, Hasbro needs Scrabulous more then the brothers need Hasbro - unless Hasbro can suddenly turn their online Scrabble game into something better than Scrabulous.

• On the post: Amazon Quietly Dumps DVD Rental Business; Guess Netflix Isn't So Easy To Beat

  

  John D ( profile ), 05 Feb, 2008 @ 12:38pm

  Re: The future is...

  ... the real future is going to be Unboxed and Apple TV and all of the other digital content delivery systems
  
  Sure, eventually. But for right now Netflix has found a profitable niche and staked their "king of the mountain" claim. In another year or few, when digital delivery of high-quality video to the average person becomes more practical, Netflix will be positioned well to leverage their name and market clout into that business as well. (After all, in the minds of teh average person, the only difference between what Netflix does now and digital delivery is medium.)

• On the post: Autodesk Sued By eBay Seller For Pretending Right Of First Sale Doesn't Exist

  

  John D ( profile ), 14 Sep, 2007 @ 08:59am

  Re: I can understand,,,

  He's not out for $10 million in personal damages. He's going for $10 million as a punitive measure. The object of punitive damages is not to compensate the plaintiff, but to reform or deter the defendant and similar persons from pursuing a course of action similar to that which damaged the plaintiff. Personally, I doubt that $10 is high enough to really make the industry take notice, but it's a start.

• On the post: Attention English Teachers: Google Is Officially A Verb

  

  John D ( profile ), 06 Jul, 2006 @ 08:02am

  Re: Yep it is. Also, Band-Aid is a noun and a ver

  A genericized trademark can not longer be legally enforced. This has happened more often than you might think. Below are a few product names that were originally trademarked, but now either are not, or are but are unenforceable. In most cases, the original trademark owner was forced be neccessity to create new names which could then be trademarked again and suffered brand dilution (and loss of market share) until they were able to get the new name known (if they were able to).
  
  (source: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Genericized_trademark. Not the complete list, just ones that I felt would be well known.)
  
  Allen wrench (or Allen key)- hexagonal screwdriver (A rarity among generic words, 'Allen wrench' is no longer trademarked, but is still capitalized because it is named after a company)
  
  aspirin - ASA (acetylsalicylic acid; remains as a registered trademark in many places around the world in the name of Bayer, but not in the United States)
  
  bikini - two-piece swimsuit for women
  
  brassiere - women's undergarment used for breast support
  
  cellophane - transparent paper
  
  celluloid - film material
  
  dry ice - frozen carbon dioxide
  
  escalator - moving staircase
  
  formica (plastic) - laminated plastic surface
  
  frisbee - toy plastic flying disc
  
  gramophone - record player
  
  granola - oat and fruit bar
  
  hoagie - sandwich
  
  heroin - narcotic drug; originally registered by Bayer as a pain reliever
  
  hula hoop - toy hoop; originally made of various materials, generic name trademarked by Wham-O when it was redesigned in plastic in the late 1950's
  
  jungle gym - play structure (from 'Junglegym')
  
  LP - long playing record
  
  lanolin - purified, wax-like substance from sheep's wool
  
  linoleum - floor covering
  
  mimeograph - reproduction machine
  
  photostat - reproduction machine
  
  plasterboard - formed gypsum building material
  
  spandex - polyurethane fiber; an anagram of "expands"; DuPont later introduced new trademark, Lycra
  
  Webster's dictionary - the publishers with the strongest link to the original are Merriam-Webster, but they have a trademark only on "Merriam-Webster", and other dictionaries are legally published as "Webster's Dictionary"
  
  yo-yo - toy
  
  zeppelin - dirigible airship
  
  zipper - zip fastener