[TriLUG] [Not a joke] AOL is suing me!

Josie Robinson josiemr at nc.rr.com
Thu Mar 20 10:57:27 EST 2003


Well they may have a point, you have to give credit to companies when you
use their trademark words.  Microsoft has made a career of suing the little
guys for old generic computer terms that they took over and got branded to
themselves.  Life sucks.  Just change the wording a little, enough to
satisfy your own lawyer and go on with life.  Life is too short otherwise.
On the other hand, maybe you want a David and Goliath kind of fight with
AOL. You know they must be really hurting, to scan the smaller web pages and
complain about stupid stuff like this.  Good luck with whatever you decide.
josie

-----Original Message-----
From: trilug-admin at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-admin at trilug.org]On Behalf
Of Sinner from the Prairy
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2003 10:33 AM
To: trilug at trilug.org
Subject: [TriLUG] [Not a joke] AOL is suing me!


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Hash: SHA1

Hi,

This is not a joke.

AOL are complaining about me using plain descriptive English words. First I
was in outrage. Then, I read again:

This is insane, abusing and inmoral. Oh, wait. We are talking about AOL and
Lawyers in the same sentence, so it makes perfect sense.

Anyway, I do not want to drop perfect descriptive English words to please
insane, inmoral and abusing delusions of ownership by a corporation.

Next time, what will it be? Someone copyrighting the word "the"?

"Dear Sir,

Ron & Mor, attys for The THE, inc, informs you that you are using their
trademarked word "the"(c) (tm)  in your pages. Please remove it from your
pages or changed it by "(definite article in English goes here)" or pay a
licensing fee of

BK$ 32.12
(thiry-two and 12  Bork Dollars)

per a usage of 100 "the""(c) (tm) word.

Best regards,
Ron & Mor, Attys for The THE, inc"


- ----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: Need your help: AOL whines about trademark on your pages
Date: Thursday 20 March 2003 08:31 am
From: Paul Jones <pjones at metalab.unc.edu>
To: jlguallar at maduixa.net

- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 11:50:09 -0500 (EST)
From: Paul Jones <pjones at metalab.unc.edu>
To: Josep L. Guallar-Esteve <sinner at metalab.unc.edu>
Cc: labratz at metalab.unc.edu
Subject: AOL whines about trademark on your pages

We just got a letter from Arent Fox, attys for AOL, telling us that your
page at http://ibiblio.org/sinner/video/messenger_en.html misuses the
words "Instant Messenger" their trademark. They are asking that you
instead use the generic term "real-time communication service" which is to
my mind confusing and opaque. I see from your pages that you are actually
referring to Microsoft Messenger so you would be in compliance and
accurate if you simply dropped the "Instant" from the pages.
Could you do that? If not, could you drop me a note telling me that you
plan to protest the claim of AOL to "Instant Messenger" in your use of the
phrase?
Also if you send me a snail-mail address, I will send you a copy of the
Arent Fox letter.

==========================================================================
                             Paul Jones
                    "Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!"
http://www.ibiblio.org/pjones/ at the Site Formerly Known As MetaLab.unc.edu
  pjones at ibiblio.org   voice: (919) 962-7600     fax: (919) 962-8071
===========================================================================

- -------------------------------------------------------

- --
http://www.ibiblio.org/sinner/     Linux User # 89976
Running on Mandrake Linux 9.0 - Kernel  2.4.19smp  Linux Machine # 38068
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