In today’s information-based economy, intellectual property rights are important. Not only that, trademarks, logos and the like are valuable commodities that should be guarded fiercly. People don’t come back from holiday in Thailand loaded down with small pellets of compressed cement, talcum powder and blue colouring. Okay, they do, it’s just that they’ve been stamped with the word ‘Pfizer’. It’s the knowledge of what genuine blue pellets of still mostly just compressed talcum powder stamped with the word ‘Pfizer’ can do, that gives the fake, god-only-knows-whats-in-them items any value at all.
Trademarks are important. But what should we be able to take down to the patent office? How about a DNA sequence which already existed in nature, but which you ‘discovered’ and also showed that it encodes a protein which may have uses in drug discovery? Hmm. I might be biased in my thoughts about that one, so what about this legal advice from Royal Mail:
Royal Mail, the Royal Mail Cruciform, the colour red and SmartStamp are all registered trademarks of Royal Mail Group plc.
…can they do that? Do they mean a specific shade of red™? And can I just point out that I’ve only ever used creative commons crimson on this blog.
Song playing as this was published: Blur - “Coffee & TV”
As you’ve lived in Germany long enough I’m sure you’re aware of “Magenta”…
I must admit that I was salivating in rabid discourse about being able to patent a DNA sequence that could be used for drug discovery. That was until I found one, and got a patent on it. Oh well, live by the rules of game you’re in I guess.
Armin: As a Sinclair ZXSpectrum owner (I wasn’t allowed anywhere near my father’s Apple II) , I knew about magenta in 1982. And Cyan. And __YK. And de-soldering a “computer”’s memory so that I could upgrade it from 16 to 48K. Sighs and pines for the time when displaying two colours in an 8×8 pixel block was as good as it got.
Now excuse me, I want to watch “Wargames” again……
820: Repeat after me, “This has important implications in our fight against cancer, can I have another grant please?”
But, the colour red?
Oops, was going to point something out, but Armin beat me to it.
Armin, The Streets: I really am going to need an explanation even though I lived in Germany long enough. All I know about magenta, apart from the CMYK bit, is that “Magenta ist die Bezeichnung für einen symmetrischen Algorithmus zur Verschlüsselung, der von der Deutschen Telekom seit 1990 entwickelt wurde und steht einerseites für “Multifunctional Algorithm for General-purpose Encryption and Network Telecommunication Applications”….. Gleichzeitig ist er eine Referenz auf die Corporate Identity der Deutschen Telekom, die die Farbe Magenta umfassend einsetzt.”
“Corporate Identity”. Shudders.
820: I used to think it was shocking that people could patent things that already existed. Now I’m shocked at how long the patent office takes.
Right, segueing very badly into the next link which vaguely mentions discovering things, I’m current reading Jon Stewart’s “America: A Citizen’s Guide To Democracy Inaction” I love this quote:
“In fourteen hundred ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue…
…and discovered America. Now, some have argued Columbus actually discovered the West Indies, or that Norsemen had discovered America centuries earlier, or that you really can’t get credit for discovering a land already populated by indigenous people with a developed civilization. Those people are communists. Columbus discovered America.”
Fantastic. Incidentally, did you know that we get The Daily Show, Tomorrow? Well, it’s not called The Daily Show, Tomorrow, but it might as well be, because it’s the one from the day before.
Great, the world learns about us through The Daily Show. Actually, it is probably appropriate. My favorite is Lewis Black (who happens to be from UNC also). Now about that discovering thing you mentioned…..everyone knows that you can’t claim a country without a proper flag to plant. The native americans didn’t have a flag so Columbus planted one right across their backsides and took their land. We give Columbus credit because he had a flag.
What about Amerigo Vespucci?
He had a map, not a flag…thus no credit or respect given.
You’re almost there: “Gleichzeitig ist er eine Referenz auf die Corporate Identity der Deutschen Telekom, die die Farbe Magenta umfassend einsetzt”.
Only that’s not the whole story, they’ve trademarked the colour magenta, or have at least tried to. Then they sent out the (in)famous “Abmahnungen” (don’t know what they’re called in English, as far as I know there isn’t really an equivalent in English law), see this one for an example (in German).
I like maps. More than flags. If you’re ever in London, there’s a shop on Long Acre (leicester square end) called Stanfords which is devoted to maps, and it is the dogs bollocks.
INOAP: There’ll be none of that London-centric “on Long Acre (leicester square end)” kind of talk on this blog (yet), thank you very much. It’s only a short step from there to “Well, it’s N6, but it’s very affordable and with original features.” And then I’ll have to ban your I.P.
820: But he got credit in the name, sort of…. And if there’s any kind of universal karma, it wasn’t the Space Shuttle “Vespucci” that disintegrated, was it?
Armin: I’ve never translated it, hence don’t know for sure (and I’m not trusting Langenscheidt for anything) - I’ve always considered it (without thinking about it) a “cease and desist” caution kind of thing. Margaret Marks would be the woman to ask, I suppose. Or maybe our very own “The Streets”?
If you haven’t heard of Leicester square, I am terribly jealous of your innocent state. It’s a bacchanal.
INOAP: Of course I have heard of Leicester Square: It’s in London somewhere. London is a large city “down south”. Down South is just about anywhere south east of, and including, that bit of Birmingham, which is still quite obviously Birmingham, but whose residents insist upon calling it Warwickshire. Oh, and Harrogate. But Long Acre?
Listen, this is how things work - you can talk about Leicester Square or Clapham Common or Harrods, in fact anywhere in London that you can produce a tourist postcard of with a description in Japanese on the reverse side.
in actual fact: Apparently, it’s an “enquiry” at first, followed by a “warning letter”. “Cease and desist” translates as “Unterlassungsanordnung”, and might be enclosed to a warning letter.
The Streets: I’d say “Thank you”, but you’d take that as “legally-binding clear acceptance of services rendered” and charge me €100, or something.
Mindestgebühr: 130,00 (It’s true!)
The Streets: “Study Genetics!” They said, “In the future, you’ll earn a fortune. Traditional subjects like law are dead.”
Spare some change for a cup of tea?
Wouldn’t you rather have an Apfelschorle? *HINT*
No, no, it’s for tea, honest. T in a purple tin (dribbles down unkempt beard whilst typing). Or were you hinting that you knew of a job going as Bedienung somewhere? Morrisson’s won’t have me to stock shelves as am overqualified. Waitrose won’t have me for same job because didn’t attend Oxbridge.
No, I was merely hinting at the fact that a Heimaturlaub might be in order. I, for one, would be delighted in a very matter-of-factly way.