4 ms·

The really absurd thing about the issue is how it is possible that someone gave they the exclusive right to use what in the end is just two standard english wor

• Samuel_Michon 14y ago
  You mean, like 'Internet Explorer'? http://news.cnet.com/Microsoft-settles-trademark-case/2100-1001_3-212931.html http://news.cnet.com/Microsoft-settles-trademark-case/2100-1...
  • nitrogen 14y ago
    No, not like Internet Explorer. It's more like an application for browsing the Internet called The Internet Browser, or a device for toasting bread called The Bread Toaster, or a seaport for planes called The Air Port.
  • DanBC 14y ago
    But no Internet browsing software was called "explorer". If it had been called "Internet Browser" you'd have a point.
  • protomyth 14y ago
    I would have gone with "Windows" since it was a common term for a UI element at the time.
    • cygx 14y ago
      And you're still free to call the UI element by that name.
      • protomyth 14y ago
        Yep, but don't use it in part of your product's name.
• brazzy 14y ago
  It only seems absurd becaus you don't realize that it's only the exclusive right to use those words in a commercial context to describe a product or service in a specific field.
  • darkarmani 14y ago
    > It only seems absurd becaus you don't realize that it's only the exclusive right to use those words in a commercial context to describe a product or service in a specific field. Actually it seems absurd because it is over-broad: "but also extended to published works." Are they going to try and pull the 1959 book Starship Troopers for trademark infringement?
    • xsmasher 14y ago
      Doesn't Starship Troopers use the term "Mobile Infantry?" This is about the term "Space Marine" not the concept of marines in space.
      • cygx 14y ago
        The literal term 'Space Marine' is not as common as I thought, which isn't really that surpsising because if virtually all your marines operate in space, do you really need to add it to their name? However, I do believe that space marine is the most common generic term to refer to soldiers-in-space ooc (ie when discussing the archetype and not specific implementations like Heinlein's 'Mobile Infantry' - keep in mind there are actual space marines in some of his other stories, Alien's 'Colonial Marines' or Starcraft's 'Confederate Marines').
      • darkarmani 14y ago
        You're right. His earlier books used it though. The concept of space marines is a cliche in games and scify space books though.
    • bunderbunder 14y ago
      No, because Starship Troopers didn't call its characters "space marines." It called them "mobile infantry."