this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
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[–] [email protected] 158 points 1 month ago (1 children)

He says his son was eventually issued the passport and the family’s vacation is still on.

Sounds to me like someone so the passport office was just being an idiot and when their supervisor looked into it it was resolved.

[–] [email protected] 120 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Government employee makes mistake, other employee corrects mistake, innocent family suffers minor inconvenience. Stay tuned for more.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago

Omg, i hope they are all ok. This must have been so traumatizing for all involved. I can't even

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Private corporations tying the hands of governments with copyright BS? If I want to name my daughter Khaleesi Skywalker Gandalf Bethooven SpaceJam that's none of the governments nor some random corporations business. You can't trademark a fucking name, wtf is this bullshit? You don't get to decide what my name is, and you definitely don't get to hamstring official government agencies in their duties because you're butthurt about my sharing a name with your fictional character. Go fuck yourselves, disney. You slimy litigious fucks, this is why your brand is sinking.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This isn't a rule. Some bureaucrat was mistaken.

The same thing happened to another girl a couple weeks ago.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But it is indicitive of the Anglo-Saxon propensity for bootlicking. /Celtposting

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (5 children)

The French do their arguably dumber "you can't call that thing you made what I call it even though it's the same recipe, because it wasn't grown where my ancient relatives made it," though. Also France's general xenophobia and owning a bona fide colony way later than the Anglos lol

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago

Yeah, Disney is slimy, but for once this isn't their doing. Some paper pusher overstepped their boundaries, that's not on Disney.

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Loki Skywalker. Jesus, these parents need a smack

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Naming children after the mythical figures of a culture is perfectly acceptable.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

True and fair, but what do you think when you hear that someone's name is Loki (who isn't from a Scandinavian country)?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

"At least they know Thor was, deliberately, a dick"

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Well my kid Coca-Cola Disney Unilever Squid is fucked.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Come on, Flying.... You knew that the minute you named them Coca-Cola Disney Unilever.

I mean can you just imagine the teasing we would have heard on the playground with "cola"? Everyone knows colas are the lowest soft drink.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (3 children)

That's why they go by Unilever.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Something as short as "Skywalker" can't be copyrighted. You don't need permission to use a trademark as long as you don't harm the brand or confuse the customer. Since trademarks are often family names, there are a number of unrelated companies that operate under the same name but in a different business.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 month ago

Sure, but, also, that it's an existing brand is simply irrelevant to a personal name. You don't need to establish that it doesn't damage the brand, it can even directly damage the brand in fact, it still doesn't matter because people aren't products.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Isn't copyright just for commercial use? Is that different in Britain?

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago

He says his son was eventually issued the passport and the family’s vacation is still on.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

That’s not how copyright works anywhere. Read the Berne convention.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Man, that's a stupid name. Poor kid permanently tied to a pop culture reference. Two, if the Loki is referring to Marvel. Naming a kid is not an opportunity to express yourself. If you want people to know you like star wars, get a tattoo. Or a bumper sticker. And then I'll judge you. But leave the kid out of it.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 month ago (4 children)

How do you think Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Jacob etc feel named after made up Bible characters?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

All names are made up.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If you can find a time machine, the braydens, jaydens, aydens, aidens, alicias, felicias, aleeshas, leEverythings, and every intentionally-misspelled version of a normal name, will be spared a lifetime of "it's like this but spelled like that because my mom sniffed glue" discussions.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

That part really gets me. Why the fuck would you name your kid a name you can't fucking spell. And before paperwork is submitted there should be a law that steps in and stops the naming.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's probably a reference to Marvel. In the Germanic tradition you a) don't name kids directly after gods, though gods may make up part of the name, say Thorgeir, Thor's spear, and b) not after Loki. Between fucking a horse (and getting pregnant) and tying a goat to his balls he really should be off limits.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Between fucking a horse (and getting pregnant) and tying a goat to his balls he really should be off limits.

So much for the tolerant left!!!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

No no, both balls, not just the left one

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago (3 children)

It is incredibly stupid that the Passport office thinks that this is a copyright issue, but the parents logic is also baffling...

“We understand that Loki’s middle name is copyrighted, but we have no intention of using it for personal gain."

So you gave a child a name that they themselves won't be able to use for "personal gain" when they grow up? Acknowledging the inherent limitations of a name like this just sounds like you willfully set your kid up for failure.

Sounds to me like a case of parents treating their child like an accessory. You're not raising a child, you're raising a future adult. Maybe don't give them a legal name that is also a corporate brand name?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

My son happens to have the name of one of my favorite comic book characters. However, it's only one of his names, and also it's a name that's real and normal so nobody would think twice about it. I wouldn't name him such an obvious name that is only tired to the one character

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

TL;DR: he wasn't denied. He was permitted.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago

He [the father] says his son was eventually issued the passport and the family’s vacation is still on.

Sounds like that office doesn't know how their own rules work.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

I think this is the second time this has happened in recent months. I am wondering if the UK bureaucracy has some sort of training about not violating trademarks generally, or some sort of software filter to avoid trademarked terms. Regardless, it seems like a fairly petty annoyance that affects a tiny number of people and can be worked around.

Or hell, maybe it's the same clerk and Gareth from Slough is sticking to his guns.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Why would you do that to your child? I mean, you wanna change your own name, go for it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

People have been choosing made up names from fiction for hundreds (thousands?) of years and as far I know, no one has died from it yet. Jessica is just a character from a play.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

You are making a lot of assumptions about this childs parents. Starting with they had a concept of a plan to begin with.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Nowadays naming your kid is a way to make a statement about yourself. Like a vanity plate.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (4 children)

The only thing that's stupid about this IMO is that Skywalker is supposed to be a last name, not a first/given name.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

I'd say if you are appropriating a name from a fictional character for your child (which seems an odd choice, but which I think people should be able to do) it probably doesn't matter much whether you take further creative liberties with it in that way.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Just like Tiffany and countless other surnames. Things change.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Would that not be trademark infringement, if anything?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (4 children)

This is stupid

So if they name a movie character Jane Doe then are they going to stop Jane Doe from getting a passport

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