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German firm has the @ sign as a trade mark
October 30th, 2012, 12:48
Hello, everyone,
I just read in an article from the German gaming site PC Games Hardware, that a German firm has registered the @ sign as a trade mark.
German-language article here : http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Intern…Marke-1032738/
I have no idea what consequences this might have outside of Germany, but German readers of this article might sense a good exploit by this firm which would follow the German wave of the so-called "Abmahn-Industrie".
The author of the artiocle says that Abmahnung ("cease & desist" letters) aren't to be expected, but I'm in doubt. I have seen quite a lot of exploits in the Abmahn-Industrie, where the most well known example is the now definct (?) company called Symicron, who had had a cease % desist letter sent to ALL German companies usung their trademarked "Explorer" - including Microsoft Germany ! And they even got money though the Abmahn-Industrie this way !
Another notable example occurred during the 90s, where Intel had had an chipset named "Triton", and a German lawyer had connfiscated motherboards from shops using "Triton" as a kind of advertisement word, because a Nederlands firm already had "Tricon" as a trade mark and their lawyers held the position that both terms could be mixed (can be read here : http://www.heise.de/ct/artikel/Die-T…le-284382.html ).
A similar thing happened with "Mendocino", by Intel as well : http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldu…ung-11073.html
The German Abmahn-Industrie had managed to create a state of fear among German IT-related firms - and private users, too !
Alrik
I just read in an article from the German gaming site PC Games Hardware, that a German firm has registered the @ sign as a trade mark.
German-language article here : http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Intern…Marke-1032738/
I have no idea what consequences this might have outside of Germany, but German readers of this article might sense a good exploit by this firm which would follow the German wave of the so-called "Abmahn-Industrie".
The author of the artiocle says that Abmahnung ("cease & desist" letters) aren't to be expected, but I'm in doubt. I have seen quite a lot of exploits in the Abmahn-Industrie, where the most well known example is the now definct (?) company called Symicron, who had had a cease % desist letter sent to ALL German companies usung their trademarked "Explorer" - including Microsoft Germany ! And they even got money though the Abmahn-Industrie this way !
Another notable example occurred during the 90s, where Intel had had an chipset named "Triton", and a German lawyer had connfiscated motherboards from shops using "Triton" as a kind of advertisement word, because a Nederlands firm already had "Tricon" as a trade mark and their lawyers held the position that both terms could be mixed (can be read here : http://www.heise.de/ct/artikel/Die-T…le-284382.html ).
A similar thing happened with "Mendocino", by Intel as well : http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldu…ung-11073.html
The German Abmahn-Industrie had managed to create a state of fear among German IT-related firms - and private users, too !
Alrik
—
“ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)
“ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“ (E.F.Schumacher, Economist, Source)
TL;DR
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