▲ 557 ▼ Elon May Have a Huge Issue Because Microsoft Owns the “X” Trademark (futurism.com) submitted 3 years ago by YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world 112 comments fedilink hide all child comments
[–] LegendOfZelda@kbin.social 14 points 3 years ago (4 children) I want Musk to lose but I hate the idea of a single letter being copyright. permalink fedilink source hideshow 8 child comments replies: [–] rtxn@lemmy.world 23 points 3 years ago (1 child) Trademark, not copyright. It means that you can't make something and call it "X" if there's any chance that your "X" and their "X" might get mixed up. Google ran into this same problem when they created "Alphabet" - it was already a trademark of some German car manufacturer (probably Audi or BMW), but the court ruled that "Alphabet the car company" and "Alphabet the online services company" are far enough apart that the average user probably won't confuse one for the other (although the Dove soap and Dove chocolate makes me doubt it). Twitter and Microsoft both offer online services. It might be enough of an overlap to constitute a trademark violation. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [+] TheBat@lemmy.world 4 points 3 years ago* (last edited 6 months ago) [deleted] permalink fedilink source parent [–] nefarious@kbin.social 8 points 3 years ago Copyright and trademarks are different things. In this case it looks like it applies mainly to the Xbox "X" logo like is seen on this (hilarious) page of the filing and is only for things related to messaging and gaming, so it's not as broad as it sounds. Based on a cursory look at Google results from before July 1st, I can't find any examples of Microsoft actually suing anyone for using the letter X, either. permalink fedilink source parent [–] Pandantic@lemmy.world 2 points 3 years ago (1 child) This is my first thought. How does a company own a single letter? Why is this allowed? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] Mynameisnotdoug@lemmy.world 5 points 3 years ago (2 children) What do you think is a reasonable cutoff for a trademark? 5 letters? 3? 2? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 4 child comments replies: [–] Pandantic@lemmy.world 8 points 3 years ago A full word that you made up. permalink fedilink source parent [+] Boinketh@lemm.ee 3 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) [deleted] permalink fedilink source parent [+] Entropywins@kbin.social -6 points 3 years ago Love your username!!! permalink fedilink source parent
[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 23 points 3 years ago (1 child) Trademark, not copyright. It means that you can't make something and call it "X" if there's any chance that your "X" and their "X" might get mixed up. Google ran into this same problem when they created "Alphabet" - it was already a trademark of some German car manufacturer (probably Audi or BMW), but the court ruled that "Alphabet the car company" and "Alphabet the online services company" are far enough apart that the average user probably won't confuse one for the other (although the Dove soap and Dove chocolate makes me doubt it). Twitter and Microsoft both offer online services. It might be enough of an overlap to constitute a trademark violation. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [+] TheBat@lemmy.world 4 points 3 years ago* (last edited 6 months ago) [deleted] permalink fedilink source parent
[+] TheBat@lemmy.world 4 points 3 years ago* (last edited 6 months ago) [deleted] permalink fedilink source parent
[–] nefarious@kbin.social 8 points 3 years ago Copyright and trademarks are different things. In this case it looks like it applies mainly to the Xbox "X" logo like is seen on this (hilarious) page of the filing and is only for things related to messaging and gaming, so it's not as broad as it sounds. Based on a cursory look at Google results from before July 1st, I can't find any examples of Microsoft actually suing anyone for using the letter X, either. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Pandantic@lemmy.world 2 points 3 years ago (1 child) This is my first thought. How does a company own a single letter? Why is this allowed? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] Mynameisnotdoug@lemmy.world 5 points 3 years ago (2 children) What do you think is a reasonable cutoff for a trademark? 5 letters? 3? 2? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 4 child comments replies: [–] Pandantic@lemmy.world 8 points 3 years ago A full word that you made up. permalink fedilink source parent [+] Boinketh@lemm.ee 3 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) [deleted] permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Mynameisnotdoug@lemmy.world 5 points 3 years ago (2 children) What do you think is a reasonable cutoff for a trademark? 5 letters? 3? 2? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 4 child comments replies: [–] Pandantic@lemmy.world 8 points 3 years ago A full word that you made up. permalink fedilink source parent [+] Boinketh@lemm.ee 3 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) [deleted] permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Pandantic@lemmy.world 8 points 3 years ago A full word that you made up. permalink fedilink source parent
[+] Boinketh@lemm.ee 3 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) [deleted] permalink fedilink source parent
[+] Entropywins@kbin.social -6 points 3 years ago Love your username!!! permalink fedilink source parent