9 ms·

SpaceX’s worldwide satellite broadband network may have a name: Starlink

cschep 9y ago
Starlink is the name of Subaru's .. entertainment? center software? It's not great. It works. Seems a pretty big brand to conflict with though.
- TomMarius 9y ago
  Not the same business though. Not sure about the USA, but in Europe, there can be multiple trademarks for one name, limited by the field of business. Simply put, a shoemaker and a software vendor can use the same name.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
    It’s the same in the U.S. I can have a shoemaker business named Microsoft without much issue.
    - adventured 9y ago
      > I can have a shoemaker business named Microsoft without much issue. In a technical legal sense that's sometimes true. In reality, Microsoft will pursue you aggressively until you capitulate. In that sense, you have a very big issue. The less common the name, the less likely you are to skirt by without issue in such a scenario. You could name your candles, Apple Candles, and be on pretty good footing (Apple is likely to leave you alone even at scale, so long as you maintain very strict separation from what they do and their branding). If you name your candles, Google Candles, Google will figure out a way to stop you if you ever get big enough to show up on their radar. In the case of Microsoft (or Google), their name is unique enough that the USPTO is very likely to find against you for combining that unique name in as part of your new business name. You won't be able to get or defend a trademark on Microsoft Shoes, and Microsoft will shut your use down accordingly. Most often, the category separation concept works so long as the naming is at least semi-generic, such as Apple Candles or Apple Shoes. It won't work for Pepsi Shoes.
      - tossaway1 9y ago
        Don't name your music company Apple though...
        SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
        In the real world no matter what you make if you call it “Apple” anything someone will probably come after you and say that they are eventually going to get into this business and offer you some type of settlement.
- kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
  Subaru's market share when it comes to the world is pretty insignificant for it to matter even if it were in the same general business space, which it isn't.
Overtonwindow 9y ago
Missed a great opportunity to go with Skynet.
- noir_lord 9y ago
  Already used, British milsats. Name predates terminator franchise. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_(satellite) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_(satellite)
  - shasheene 9y ago
    Does that matter though? Is there any legal restriction on them re-using the name? Seems like a huge missed opportunity
    - rl3 9y ago
      >Seems like a huge missed opportunity Don't worry. It's possible Elon will have a proper AI play some day, with a project that's more deserving of the name. Seeing as he's concerned about safety, I can think of no better way to instill an ethos of caution into an army of AI researchers than having them show up to work at Cyberdyne Systems every day to build Skynet.
  - Overtonwindow 9y ago
    "Skynet is a family of military communications satellites, now operated by Astrium Services on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence," I don't think the British military have an exclusive copyright on the use of the word Skynet.
nameisu 9y ago
lets play a game. on what basis will Comcast sue them?
deevolution 9y ago
The facebook internet satelite launch explosion was pretty convenient for spacex. They can for certain be first to deliver satelite internet.
- planteen 9y ago
  Aside from the many satellite internet solutions that already exist? Let's see, we have Globalstar, Iridium, Hughsnet, Exede, Gogo, and others. And who says SpaceX will be first for global broadband? OneWeb already has spectrum rights and has been building a factory in Florida. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OneWeb_satellite_constellation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OneWeb_satellite_constellation
- nameless912 9y ago
  As someone who works for one of the biggest satellite internet providers in the world....what the fuck are you talking about?
  - deevolution 9y ago
    Whoa there calm down, partner.
- InclinedPlane 9y ago
  Weirdly, the fact that you wrote this comment seems to indicate you are literate and have access to the internet, hmmm. Satellite internet has been around in various forms since the 1990s. Indeed, SpaceX is launching a significant competitor to their own service in the form of the Iridium NEXT constellation, of which SpaceX has already put 20 satellites into orbit for them.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
rl3 9y ago
For all the world-changing humanitarian potential this has, I have to admit my foremost concern is simply: will any two players on the planet finally be able to play games together at a latency of less than 100ms? "But then we thought—hey, let's use it for games!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooLO2xeyJZA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooLO2xeyJZA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79L3eJM605A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79L3eJM605A (Both links are classic 3dfx commercials.)
- brianwawok 9y ago
  Is 100ms long enough for light to travel 50% of the way around the earth? I think its close, maybe 80ms.
jason_slack 9y ago
This made for think, for some strange reason. With satellite communications, are there improvements that could be made to tools like rsync, scp, etc to be really efficient over networks like this?

Starlink is the name of Subaru's .. entertainment? center software? It's not great. It works. Seems a pretty big brand to conflict with though.

TomMarius 9y ago
Not the same business though. Not sure about the USA, but in Europe, there can be multiple trademarks for one name, limited by the field of business. Simply put, a shoemaker and a software vendor can use the same name.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
  It’s the same in the U.S. I can have a shoemaker business named Microsoft without much issue.
  - adventured 9y ago
    > I can have a shoemaker business named Microsoft without much issue. In a technical legal sense that's sometimes true. In reality, Microsoft will pursue you aggressively until you capitulate. In that sense, you have a very big issue. The less common the name, the less likely you are to skirt by without issue in such a scenario. You could name your candles, Apple Candles, and be on pretty good footing (Apple is likely to leave you alone even at scale, so long as you maintain very strict separation from what they do and their branding). If you name your candles, Google Candles, Google will figure out a way to stop you if you ever get big enough to show up on their radar. In the case of Microsoft (or Google), their name is unique enough that the USPTO is very likely to find against you for combining that unique name in as part of your new business name. You won't be able to get or defend a trademark on Microsoft Shoes, and Microsoft will shut your use down accordingly. Most often, the category separation concept works so long as the naming is at least semi-generic, such as Apple Candles or Apple Shoes. It won't work for Pepsi Shoes.
    - tossaway1 9y ago
      Don't name your music company Apple though...
      - SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
        In the real world no matter what you make if you call it “Apple” anything someone will probably come after you and say that they are eventually going to get into this business and offer you some type of settlement.
kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
Subaru's market share when it comes to the world is pretty insignificant for it to matter even if it were in the same general business space, which it isn't.

Overtonwindow 9y ago

Missed a great opportunity to go with Skynet.

noir_lord 9y ago
Already used, British milsats. Name predates terminator franchise. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_(satellite) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_(satellite)
- shasheene 9y ago
  Does that matter though? Is there any legal restriction on them re-using the name? Seems like a huge missed opportunity
  - rl3 9y ago
    >Seems like a huge missed opportunity Don't worry. It's possible Elon will have a proper AI play some day, with a project that's more deserving of the name. Seeing as he's concerned about safety, I can think of no better way to instill an ethos of caution into an army of AI researchers than having them show up to work at Cyberdyne Systems every day to build Skynet.
- Overtonwindow 9y ago
  "Skynet is a family of military communications satellites, now operated by Astrium Services on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence," I don't think the British military have an exclusive copyright on the use of the word Skynet.

nameisu 9y ago

lets play a game. on what basis will Comcast sue them?

deevolution 9y ago

The facebook internet satelite launch explosion was pretty convenient for spacex. They can for certain be first to deliver satelite internet.

planteen 9y ago
Aside from the many satellite internet solutions that already exist? Let's see, we have Globalstar, Iridium, Hughsnet, Exede, Gogo, and others. And who says SpaceX will be first for global broadband? OneWeb already has spectrum rights and has been building a factory in Florida. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OneWeb_satellite_constellation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OneWeb_satellite_constellation
nameless912 9y ago
As someone who works for one of the biggest satellite internet providers in the world....what the fuck are you talking about?
- deevolution 9y ago
  Whoa there calm down, partner.
InclinedPlane 9y ago
Weirdly, the fact that you wrote this comment seems to indicate you are literate and have access to the internet, hmmm. Satellite internet has been around in various forms since the 1990s. Indeed, SpaceX is launching a significant competitor to their own service in the form of the Iridium NEXT constellation, of which SpaceX has already put 20 satellites into orbit for them.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

rl3 9y ago

For all the world-changing humanitarian potential this has, I have to admit my foremost concern is simply: will any two players on the planet finally be able to play games together at a latency of less than 100ms? "But then we thought—hey, let's use it for games!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooLO2xeyJZA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooLO2xeyJZA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79L3eJM605A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79L3eJM605A (Both links are classic 3dfx commercials.)

brianwawok 9y ago
Is 100ms long enough for light to travel 50% of the way around the earth? I think its close, maybe 80ms.

jason_slack 9y ago

This made for think, for some strange reason. With satellite communications, are there improvements that could be made to tools like rsync, scp, etc to be really efficient over networks like this?