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Yahoo Serious Fights Yahoo! trademark
Posted by
Hemos
on Thu Oct 04, 2001 08:01 AM
from the the-levels-of-comedy dept.
from the the-levels-of-comedy dept.
fsck writes "Australian actor Yahoo Serious is fighting Internet portal Yahoo! for the trademark to the word Yahoo, registered with the Australian Trade Marks Office in August. Yahoo! was founded in 1994, whereas Yahoo Serious changed his name by deed poll in 1980. It sounds as though Mr Serious is, among other things, tired of receiving any more misdirected Yahoo! snail mail." The levels of comedy to this are astounding.
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Yahoo Serious Fights Yahoo! trademark
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Re:whatever (Score:4, Insightful)
Course, the fact that he's not exactly the best known actor ever may prevent most people from being confused since they're unlikely to have heard of him. But since IANAL, I'm going to leave that discussion to the court to decide.
And laugh if he wins.
It's just a shame he didn't change his name to Micro Soft.
Origins? (Score:4, Insightful)
Surely the great great great grand nice (twice removed on her mother's side) could have some contention about this?
Re:Name Copyright... (Score:5, Informative)
Who is Sir Donald Bradman Indeed! Ok It may just be that im australian, but Sir Donald Bradman is one of the Australias most famous cricketers. Born in 1908 in SA (south australia) , with a test average of 99.94, and in all the tests in which he played, in he scored a total of close to 7000 runs.
Sadly Sir Don passed away in august 2000. he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. one of may great australians. but then I guess most Americans wouldnt know of him, let alone Cricket.
Seriously Amused (Score:4, Interesting)
I know that you supposedly can't trademark a proper name, and since Yahoo had changed his proper name -to- Yahoo ages ago, he's got a very good point. This one'll be fun to see the results of.
Yahoo Serious already lost the fight. In August! (Score:5, Informative)
From the Australian Trade Marks Office:
Yahoo Serious v Yahoo! Inc [2001] ATMO 74 (13 August 2001)
The evidence shows that Mr Serious does not use his name, Yahoo Serious, or his forename, to distinguish goods or services. It is true that he writes, directs and produces motion picture films in which he stars; however, it is not apparent in the evidence that either of the words `Yahoo Serious', or the word `Yahoo' are used as a trade mark in relation to the films. The closest that I can find in the evidence to use of any sign that might be as a trade mark is the repeated use of the words, a `Serious Production' or `Serious Entertainment' on promotional material associated with the motion pictures. However, this use is obviously of no assistance to Mr Serious as the opposed trade mark is the word YAHOO! and I therefore do not have to decide whether this use of the word SERIOUS is as a trade mark.
Oh dear so 'Serious' might be trademarked ? (Score:4, Funny)
I don't want to play as 'Slightly Serious Sam' or 'Mostly Harmless Sam'
Dammit I wanna be Serious Sam and I want some serious fragging now.....
Re:Yahoo Serious already lost the fight. In August (Score:5, Informative)
First, the story is that Yahoo Serious is appealing the August decision.
Secondly, Yahoo! the company has registered a trademark in Australia for use in, amongst other things, "Entertainment services including television programmes". On the face of it, he may have a case that using "Yahoo!" as a trademark in the entertainment industry would be "confusingly similar" to his name, even though he has not trademarked his name.
sesame street... (Score:4, Funny)
Missing the point. (Score:5, Insightful)
Yahoo is moving to register the trademark now, they applied for it in August. Being an actor, it means that if Yahoo Serious was to release merchandise etc. under the name Yahoo, Yahoo! inc. would probably sue him.
This wasn't a problem before they applied for the trademark.
How would you guys feel if I tried to register the trademark "Linus Torvalds" tomorrow?
I think that Mr. Serious has a serious point.
(pardon the pun
How can you get confused? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yahoo! (with the exclamation mark, which they have always used even if their users don't) is associated with a Web portal, and has been for years, while Yahoo Serious (with the last name) has always been associated with comedy (well, loosely). "Yahoo" is a common word, but they're used differently in each case, so there's no confusion.
If you ask me, this is just a cheap publicity ploy by Yahoo Serious to get his name back in the public eye, since his acting ability is incapable of doing so. The dispute is a non-issue, and will be treated as such by the courts.
Re:Missing the point. (Score:4, Informative)
However, it is not axiomatic that you have a (trademark) right to your own name. Ever heard of "Taylor Wine", a fairly large upstate-NY winery that markets inexpensive table wine? It was a family-owned business. In the late 70s, two brothers that ran the business had a falling out. One brother decided to run his own business, and incorporated "Taylor" into the name.
Much sueing occurred -- and the court ruled that the original Taylor could prevent the new Taylor from using the FAMILY NAME in his business (and, presumably, anyone else who wanted to use "Taylor" in relationship to a winery). The fact that it was his name didn't carry any weight. I believe there have been several other similar cases, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.
FYI, if you want to know the outcome -- Taylor #2 renamed his winery "Bully Hill" (I believe the original winery was on a hill...), and continued to do business. I left upstate NY in '90, so I don't know how much success they've achieved. Neither wines were particularly good
Now, I believe Linus holds the trademark for "Linux". Could you open a company called "Linus Torvalds Operating Systems, Inc" ? Maybe.
Abott and Costello, forgive me. (Score:5, Funny)
C: Oh yeah, well you better have a really good name for it. Something to stick in people heads.
A: Oh I do, I'm really excited about it.
C: What is it?
A: Yahoo!
C: So you're excited, so what's the name.
A: No, that's the name.
C: What's the name?
A: Yahoo!
C: I can't tell it's exciting, what's the name!
A: I just told you the name.
C: Why can't you just tell me the name.
A: Yahoo!
C: You can't be serious.
A: I'm not, that's someone else.
C: That's not what I'm asking!
apology (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Two different trademarks? (Score:4, Funny)
the words "Yahho Serious" and "genius" shoud never be uttered in the same sentance.
Names (Score:3, Insightful)
Did Yahoo Serios pull his current name out of thin air, i.e. was is completely originaly and never been said before? Nope, that word has been around a lot longer than he's been using it.
He's been in more recent movies than Young Einstein but when was the last time you heard his name mentioned? During promos for Young Einstein.
Does he have a chance in hell of winning? Nope.
Its about TRADEMARK not domains (Score:4, Insightful)
No, you can't steal scott.com. But they can't TRADEMARK "scott" either. Yahoo! applied for a trademark in the ENTERTAINMENT FIELD in Australia in August. That trademark would prohibit Mr. Serious (who changed his name in 1980) from being able to market himself or his production company, his films or any other products
Mr. Serious is NOT attempting to hijack yahoo.com, and he could probably care less about domains, so long as he is able to continue to use his own domain yahooserious.com, and whatever the australian one is.
Given the dot bomb economy.... (Score:5, Funny)
Mostly funny, but kinda serious too... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yahoo!'s trademark gives them the necessary leverage needed to keep others from associating their name with products/services/activities/etc that have nothing to do with Yahoo!. As a result, Yahoo Serious (who apparently still has a career in Australia) runs the risk of legal troubles if he uses his legal first name to promote his movies. Imagine him making a movie that has a corresponding movie poster with wording like "Yahoo Presents...[movie title]" or a title like (in class Earnest fashion) "Yahoo Goes To The Outback." Yahoo! could, if they so desired, sue Yahoo Serious (or, more likely, whatever production company made the film) for trademark violations, since their trademarked name was used in the promotion of a product they had nothing to do with.
To put a spin on an anology someone else used on this subject, having the name Scott does not, indeed, give you the right to own scott.com. But if Scott Tissue got a trademark on the name "Scott", they could possibly sue you for making a homepage titled "Scott's Web Site", simply on the implication that Scott Tissue might be associated with the site due to the use of a trademarked name.
I still think Yahoo Serious will lose this legal battle, but it still kind of stinks that companies can trademark such phrases (instead of something a bit more obvious, like a logo).
Lisa Simpson said it all (Score:3, Funny)
Lisa Simpson: "I know those words, but that sentance makes no sense to me!"
Why Mr. Serious changed his name (Score:3, Informative)