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Google sues me for using the word “droid” in my company name Orpheusdroid
- john_alan 6y ago“Don’t be evil”
- google234123 6y agoYou have a very weak definition of evil...
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- mikro2nd 6y agoThat ship sailed a long time ago. Please just leave it to die instead of trying to resurrect it any time Google fucks up.
- Aeolun 6y agoIt’s just that there was a time when it actually seemed to be true. We cannot let it go because something so promising was extinguished. I can see how it’s a bit annoying, but I can also see how people cannot keep but bring it up.
- justinclift 6y ago> It’s just that there was a time when it actually seemed to be true. People have mentioned that before, but maybe it's more them just "wanting to believe" and being suckered due to it?
- Normille 6y agoFrance sues Google for using the word "Le" in its company name
- 29athrowaway 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_v._MikeRoweSoft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_v._MikeRoweSoft
- scollet 6y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s_legal_cases https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s_legal_cases Etc.
- oriolid 6y agoThe classic and almost related one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer
- ummonk 6y agoI mean Microsoft seems to be in the right there, given that he deliberately named it that to be a pun on the Microsoft name. He wouldn't have appended Soft to his name when choosing a domain if Microsoft didn't exist.
- perl4ever 6y ago"given that he deliberately named it that to be a pun on the Microsoft name" That seems like a good defense, since it's not the sort of thing people would infer to actually be Microsoft. Not a lawyer, etc., but it seems to me that people continually talk (in this thread and elsewhere) as if trademark was copyright.
- WalterBright 6y agoI would suggest changing trademark law so a trademark cannot be a single word found in the dictionary. I.e. one could trademark: Acme Editor but not: Editor
- humanrebar 6y agoHold my legal pad while I bribe some scientists and someone from the OED to define "microsoft" to be a species of insect.
- paulcole 6y agoBut they don’t use the OED as their source dictionary and don’t tell you which dictionary they use. Looks like you’re going to have to bribe a lot of dictionary employees.
- hda2 6y agoHave an exception for trademarks registered before their inclusion as a dictionary word? Google is already defined as internet search by some dictionaries.
- bitwize 6y agoHasbro has had trouble trademarking certain Transformer names (Jazz, Prowl, etc.) so in the trademark registration the name actually trademarked is "Autobot X" or "Decepticon X".
- junon 6y agoIIRC this is already the case.
- 0xFF0123 6y agoApple is trademarked https://trademarks.justia.com/761/16/apple-76116541.html https://trademarks.justia.com/761/16/apple-76116541.html
- 6y ago
- intricatedetail 6y agoI think companies selling haemorrhoid treatments started profusely sweating.
- mksreddy 6y agoAn android variant named xxxdroid and you wonder Google is coming after you for name? Also I feel author is disingenuous when he says used Droid in Orphesdroid references to automation.
- segfaultbuserr 6y agoDoes simply using the word "Droid" for an Android-related project count as trademark infringement? Can the free software project "F-Droid" [0] (Android App Installer) be sued for trademark infringement? If it is, it's bad news... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-Droid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-Droid
- wodenokoto 6y agoA license was acquired for the Motorola Droid use of the word "Droid" from Lucas Arts, so I would guess that the answer is yes.
- coolspot 6y agoI can’t find current trademark “droid” in the USPTO database: http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/ http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/
- wodenokoto 6y agoI vaguely remembered there being something to it, and to remind myself I didn’t dig deeper than Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid "The brand name Droid is a trademark of Lucasfilm licensed to Verizon Wireless."
- gpm 6y agoHere you go https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=77580336&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=77580336&caseType=SERIAL_... (found via Wikipedia sources)
- 6y ago
- howlgarnish 6y agoThe problem is that he's making mobile apps with that name. Lucas Films' trademarks to "Droid" aren't relevant here, because those are for movies and nobody's going to confuse them with the Android OS.
- mqus 6y agoThat didn't keep them from going after davdroid (now davx5). Afair lucasarts was behind that.
- robinduckett 6y agoDid Google specifically license "droid" from Lucasfilm / Disney? Is "droid" a protected term?
- goodside 6y agoGoogle did not, but Verizon Wireless did for the Motorola Droid in 2009.
- pacificmint 6y agoDroid is (or used to be) Motorola’s brand name for their Android phones. Google bought Motorola in 2012. They sold them later, but they may have retained the Trademark.
- sangnoir 6y agoThat cannot be right - Verizon (not Motorola) got the rights from Lucas Arts. IIRC, there was at least one non-Motorola Droid (made by HTC, IIRC)
- willmacdonald 6y agoApple would not let me register a developer account using my domain name macscan.net. Got a letter from their legal team. This was not for any product or app I was even thinking of making. This was purely: 'You cannot use that email address'.
- asutekku 6y agoThat looks like a possible apple product so i could see why they would not allow it.
- Y-bar 6y agoIt's not like "mac..." is an uncommon application, or developer, name, here are a few living examples: Macinlock, Mac Cleaner, SMS Mac, Atomic Mac, Mac Powersuite, Wise Mac Care, iFamily for Mac, Macdaddy, CareMyMac, MacTvision ... the list goes on. Just go to some site like macupdate.com or _the_ Mac App Store and search for apps with "mac" in the name, there are hundreds. For example the company macpaw.com is a company which is over 11 years in the business now. They are regularly featured, yet are allowed to exists. It highlights Apple's arbitrariness in these situations.
- heyraizbro 6y agoThere is a famous site called "MacRumors" that uses the "Mac" name, yet they have no problem with this. Wow, what's going on lately with Apple?
- mattmanser 6y agoFair enough imo? Might be your long held personal email or whatever, but it also looks like a scam URL.
- Macha 6y agoSo any Scottish people with macX names cannot use their email or name in the app store? This is the origin of the mac name too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_(apple) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_(apple)
- wodenokoto 6y agoDidn't Motorola license Droid from Lucas Arts for the Motorola Droid lineup [1]? And since Google bought Motorola, it is now on Google to protect the trademark? [1] Although Wikipedia says it was licensed to Verizon: "The brand name Droid is a trademark of Lucasfilm licensed to Verizon Wireless." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Droid So Maybe it is Disney or Verizon that should be suing?
- stingraycharles 6y agoIsn’t a trademark only valid in a single market, eg consumer electronics vs entertainment?
- luto 6y agoTrademarks are valid in one or more "classes", yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_(Nice)_Classification_of_Goods_and_Services#List_of_Classes_(11th_edition) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_(Nice)_Classific...
- praptak 6y agoThe general spirit is to protect consumers from confusion by competing companies, which is good. It only becomes a problem when the hypothetical consumer becomes doormat dumb and half blind. I think that Firefox should have kept the name Phoenix, nobody would get confused by that.
- megous 6y agoGeneral spirit is to protect company profits. For example, I'm much better served by Sandisk having a tamper-proof verification codes on their uSD cards that I can lookup on their official website and verify the card being genuine. I don't remember the last time I bought non-genuine Sandisk card from random sellers on Aliexpress after they introduced this. Yet I have a bunch of Samsung ones from China (probably fakes), and half of those are already dead. Both are trademarked. I wish more manufacturers put more effort to creating verification schemes for end-users, rather than to suing for trademark violations.
- villgax 6y agoGrow the fuck up google! The legal team at Google India surely has had their heads in the sand, by not knowing anything about the word Droid outside of google realm.
- inopinatus 6y agoWhat’s next, action against the estate of Philip K. Dick for giving the Nexus series a bad name? The irony of Google trying a passing-off claim over these names particularly stinks, since they ripped them off in the first place.
- dan1234 6y agoActually, his estate threatened to sue Google over the Nexus name. I’m not sure it came to anything. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/jan/07/google-nexus https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/jan/07/google-ne...
- bitwize 6y agoThat's ridiculous. Google shouldn't be suing you for that. Disney should. They own the trademark on the word "droid".
- inopinatus 6y agoThey could, but these aren’t the droids they’re looking for.
- nl 6y agoGoogle had an exclusive licence to in in that field.
- ghaff 6y agoI can sue you for more or less anything. And, especially if I'm a big company, I can make you waste a lot of time and money (even if you're also a big company). That's why, as someone who has been involved in a number of product naming decisions, my experience is that lawyers are very conservative in terms of what names they let you use even if, on paper, it seems like you have a good argument that your somewhat overlapping name is completely unrelated.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- kwanbix 6y agoThat is because in USA you pay your lawyers. In other countries, if you loose, you have to pay the lawyers of the other part.
- ghaff 6y agoI doubt that is universally true. In the US, a court can award court costs and legal fees to the winning party but they're unlikely to do so unless the case is clearly frivolous and harassing. Which isn't unreasonable because otherwise individuals could basically never afford to take on the risk of suing a company because, were they to lose, they'd be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
- SpelingBeeChamp 6y agoSee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_rule_(attorney%27s_fees) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_rule_(attorney%27s_fe...
- ghaff 6y agoHowever, you do have things like anti-SLAPP laws so it's not universal. ADDED: And as someone else noted, litigants can recover legal fees in other cases where one party has behaved unreasonably or in bad faith.
- sschueller 6y agoWow, I just got my trademark (Techdroid) renewed a few days ago. I do have a signed agreement with Lucasfilm from when I first registered it but I wonder if I will have issues with Google in the future and my android apps.
- DethNinja 6y agoHow did you get signed agreement? Did you contact Lucasfilm or did they contact you?
- sschueller 6y agoThey contacted me when I first filed.
- mcguire 6y agoAre you building an operating system for phones?
- jzox 6y agoWhat ever happened to the motto “don’t be evil”?
- frouge 6y agoInvestors threw it to the garbage pret-ty fast
- nix23 6y agoDear Google, Android and Droid exist much longer than your crappy OS: >The Oxford English Dictionary traces the earliest use (as "Androides") to Ephraim Chambers' 1728 >The term "droid", popularized by George Lucas in the original Star Wars film and now used widely within science fiction Maybe Disney should sue you too right? And maybe the State of Greece because it's derived work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(robot) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(robot)
- LoSboccacc 6y agothis isn't a copyright litigation how is this top comment
- nix23 6y ago>this isn't a copyright litigation how is this top comment >The term "droid", popularized by George Lucas So first...google is NOT the Copyright owner of "Droid", second the Android OS was named after an already existing Word in the same domain. EDIT: He wrote that in his own Post and from my point he is right: > "Droid" is a dictionary word and first coined in 1952 by a American science fiction author. Quote: Droid: Clipping of android. Coined by American science fiction author Mari Wolf in Robots of the World! Arise! (1952), and popularised by the film Star Wars (1977). Droid is a trademark of "Lucas Films" now Disney since circa 1990. Possible that Google has licensed "Droid" from Lucas now Disney for using in android "Android" itself is a dictionary word.
- shallowthought 6y agoThey just have to establish a history of suing people for using that word because part of keeping your copyright is showing that you have fought for it in court.
- schappim 6y agoHowever this dispute is primarily about trademarks and not copyright.
- mensetmanusman 6y agoGoogle should sue starwars next.
- evgen 6y agoOh, you mean the people they are already paying for the trademark license?
- Jazgot 6y agoI don't see any documents confirming the lawsuit. Maybe this just some kind of weird advertisement?
- peanut_worm 6y agoSurprised Lucas Films doesn't try to collect on all the apps the use the word 'droid'
- Synaesthesia 6y agoThat would be kinda petty, I'm glad they don't.
- simonkafan 6y agoNot the same story but related: Microsoft had to rebrand his online storage SkyDrive to OneDrive once because the television broadcaster "Sky" won a trademark lawsuit in UK. Can anyone tell me how this is possible? Why am I not allowed to use the word "sky" in any product name completely unrelated to TV?
- jzwinck 6y agoSky is also an internet service provider. Not as far removed as TV really, and SkyDrive is hardly unrelated to internet service.
- dehrmann 6y agoI'd say it doesn't seem to be a problem for Box and Dropbox, but it probably is; the two companies are just too similar.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- mensetmanusman 6y agoReplace the o with a zero.
- heyplanet 6y agoIs there a way to keep up with this story? Looks like Orpheusdroid is not on Twitter. I am not sure who is right and who is wrong here. But I have the feeling that it is too easy for big companies to threaten small companies. I wonder if there should be some institution where small companies and individuals can go to when threatened by big companies. And if the threat seems unreasonable, the institution would take up the fight on behalf of the small company or individual.
- fortran77 6y agoBut they didn't sue him. They filed an objection to his trademark filing and asked him to stop using the name. He can call their bluff, or cave in, or wait 'til they actually sue him to stop. > 3months challenge period was about to expire and just a week before the trademark was to be granted, received a "Cease and Desist" letter from Google India's law chamber demanding to withdraw the trademark,
- jmull 6y agoI hope this guy is getting good legal advice. He seems focused on things that aren’t that central to his case, like whether words or word-parts are dictionary words, or whether Google had complained about the name in the past (how could Google object to a trademark that hadn’t been filed for?) I have no idea of the specific laws and regulations in effect in this case, but generally an infringement case like this is about whether the defendant’s mark is likely to cause confusion in consumers. My opinion in this case is “no”, but it’s arguable and for whatever reason Google wants to argue it. I also wonder if there is much to win here. How much does the guy have invested in that name and how much future value does it have over alternatives? It might be less than the risk of legal costs. I don’t see a compelling general principle here that is bigger than the case itself either.
- arun6582 6y agoi would believe its unfair if you had registerd your company before android came out.
- rmbeard 6y agoI guess George Lucas gets to sue Google now.
- evgen 6y agoGeorge registered the TM via his company LucasArts (whose parent LucasFilm was purchased by Disney), which licensed the TM to Motorola, who was purchased by Google.
- chiefalchemist 6y agoAs I understand it (i.e., correct me if I'm mistaken), when you are a trademark holder the less you defend (note: not the right word) that trademark its scope (?) erodes, ar least from the POV of the courts. What's unfortunate is, the law allows those with the deepest bench of lawyers the broadest scope of their trademark. The Googles of the world are obligated to do these things. The law could do better to pursue justice that independent of bank account assets.
- salamanderman 6y ago"Droid" copyright LucasFilm, and Google and Motorola pay a licensing fee for the right to put that in products.
- TheRealPomax 6y agoAsking unqualified strangers on the internet for "how to make a case stronger" should really be met with "start by hiring a lawyer" as first, second, and third reply. (because from the post, they only got in touch with one to write an initial response)
- panzagl 6y agoLucasfilm went after FASA back in the Eighties for their board game 'Battledroid', forcing them to change it to 'Battletech'. It's a trademark with a long history of being contentious. Think he could name his company 'OrpheusiPhone' without pushback from Apple?
- nabla9 6y agoIf not Google, then Disney. Disney has also gone after companies for using droid in their name.
- Stierlitz 6y agoDroid: Origin 1950s shortening of android. https://www.lexico.com/definition/droid https://www.lexico.com/definition/droid
- riffnote 6y agoHonestly, Orpheusdroid is a sub-optimal name. It's too wordy and hard to spell or even remember. This is an opportunity to rebrand into something better.
- papul1993 6y agoOfftopic but Team-BP is an excellent forum discussing the Automobile Market in India. The posts are of high quality and they have a pretty high barrier of entry.