Umm, there is but, in the case of the character name it's not being used in commerce (trade) so, I'm at a loss of how trademark law would apply. Had this been a valid trademark case, the person who owns the character could have filed to have the filing removed but, there are just too many buts in this case

I handle trademark and some copyright stuff for a small non-profit. I've never had to threaten anyone and I've never pretended to be a lawyer, I just ask nice, explain and get good results. Had I come across a MMO character name that was the same as our trademark (which begs the question of how I found it, as I only look for infringement in places where infringement is likely to happen and cause harm), I at most would have been amused and can't imagine why I would contact anyone.

In all my cases it's either been 1) I don't want people to think we are associated with you or 2) your use is likely to cause confusion of the brand. The case against the OP is sad and laughable.

That's sorta like saying sending a woodpecker or a Hind to pester someone is just another method of doing the same thing. It's rather easy to detect a helicopter, their big, kinda noisy and have to stay several hundred or more feet off the ground. It's a lot harder to detect a Predator, or one of the even smaller drones and I've never seen a helicopter that can fly into my backyard.

Okay, let's assume your a name is awesomeness in IT Security and Hacking; furthermore, let's assume that you:

1. Detect the hack
2. Stop the hack
3. Recover from the hack
4. Determine the true source
5. Can retaliate
6. Successfully retaliate
7. Bask in your glory

Still sounds like great way to end up dead. You never know who your playing with.

Hmmm, wouldn't that be hacking or unauthorized access?!?

Okay, maybe I'm just paranoid. Alright, no maybe, I am, I'm really good at it and I get paid ("Is adept at risk identification") to be that way.

Seriously though, who thought it was a good idea (Don't get me wrong here those pics are awesome) to post anywhere, hi-res photos of the construction of nuclear reactor? Is the NRC asleep at the console?

Hmmm, please re-read the post. After which, please post again and quote the bit about being "on board with them" about anything.

I'd possibly make use of my time to rail against Yahoo for cutting men's paternity leave to 4 weeks after all men have 4 weeks of paternity leave. I know I should have stopped by now, sigh

A great number of things in the world are wrong. Don't forget that we are capable of ranking the wrongness of an action. The wrongness of Yahoo's action isn't causing me "any real heart-burn". That is a far cry from this being a "defense of Yahoo." It's just simply not worth this much ink. This ire would IMNSHO be better spent on a similar yet, much greater wrong.

Equality doesn't necessarily mean equal. Also, sadly no we haven't.

I am a man, father, who has been treated unfairly in regard to my desires and need to spend time with and care for my children. My employer offers zippo parental leave, which would make them a more honest target than Yahoo.

Many obviously feel what Yahoo has done is discriminatory, that may be, it may not be honestly I'm not certain. (Also, way to bring race into this, ++Good) Yahoo makes a colorful target for the media and inspires the public to react. I'd suggest that if you want to rail against someone in regard to parental leave, call your state or national reps and demand action. Demand that all persons, not just those who have what is likely a well paying job with nice benefits, are granted paid parental leave.

Anything less than equal treatment is a distinction. The basis, if any, for the distinction may turn the distinction into a discrimination.

Okay, this is a little blue but, I can't come up with a better example right now. I have never heard of anyone claiming that not putting urinals in a women's bathroom, or having women's bathrooms is discrimination but, both are distinctions.

It could be argued that this is only a distinction. It would be fallacious to assume that maternity leave is solely used or of benefit after a child's birth. During pregnancy, time could be needed for doctor's visits, tests, bed rest, etc. The father's ability to bond is not hampered in any of those cases.

Don't forget that with FMLA only applies to certain companies (50 or more employees in the area), may not apply to you (upper 10% of earners and your leave would hurt the company), you and your wife work at the same place (then you have to split your 12 weeks). Pretty sure most companies require you to burn your paid time first, so it may be unpaid leave.

While time to bond would have been great, I don't have any real heart-burn about Yahoo's benefit offering for a few reasons. 1) I do believe that on average, women are likely to need more time off to recoup from giving birth, especially as it seems troubled pregnancies are becoming more common. 2) I'm much more bent over how a female dominated field like education (birth - high school) has zippo paid parental leave benefits. Considering the current overall state of such benefits Yahoo deserves applause, albeit possibly with a raised eyebrow.

Sheesh folks are getting bent over Yahoo increasing an already generous benefit for women but, not for men. How about we cut them a huss until everyone else in the country has the paltry 8 weeks of leave dads at Yahoo will get, then we can paint signs, hop on a buss, protest outside their offices, sign "Give Peace a Chance" and boycott their services...

Know the difference between information and knowledge.

I so enjoy when people equate having knowledge with being smart, or intelligent. It's rather like listing to someone expound upon 'common sense'. While having quicker access to information, especially the direct brain to cloud stuff, is very intriguing and have a high awesome factor, it's doesn't make your smarter. It doesn't even mean you know more stuff, it just means you have easy access to information, okay a crap ton of information.

You may be able to quickly determine whether a cup goes best with a saucer, spoon or napkin (this used to be on at least one standard intelligence test) in picosecond but, your still just as dumb as you were a picosecond ago (do neurons fire that fast?), you just and idiot that can quickly access information.

I had to blink, shake my head and read that a few times and it still doesn't make much sense. Is gold, the supposed basis for our money, money? It's value is fluid, changing several times a day, or is gold simply a commodity upon which the value of money is based?!? In either case isn't the value of money fluid?

What about inflation? I've heard it referred to as both the change in cost of an item or service and the decline in the value of money. We can also being loans into this and the idea of paying someone back in the future with money that is worth less than what we originally borrowed. Almost forgot currency exchanges...

Just thinking about how absurd Mr. Forbes statement sounds makes my head throb with contradiction.

A Dyson sphere and a Ring World?

Pfc. Manning chose to exist in a world of high expectations, morals, honor and trust of his own free will and then chose to become a traitor to those standards. It's truly sad how many people don't understand the cost of what Manning did and what he may have put at risk for his concept of morals. The honorable thing would have been (as stated by at least one other) to admit he could not keep to the standards excepted of him and relinquish his access.

The only saving grace for Manning is that the U.S. is fond of police actions, incursions, etc., in lieu of Declarations of War.

No, it's just a gross over-simplification. I could have gone into a solder not getting to choose which rules or orders to follow (we'll ignore unlawful ones for the moment) and so on. I choose to be brief.

Characterizing something as lame is actually pretty lame, get a thesaurus.

Someone volunteering to join the military (e.g. Pfc. Manning) also agrees to be bound by the UCMJ. It's not hipocracy, it's simple reality. If you want members of the military to have the same rights as civilians, you don't want to have a military or the protections it provides. In order for the military to function, it's members must be held to higher standards and have fewer freedoms; otherwise, the whole thing would just fall apart.

Pfc. Manning is in a hell of his own creation for not only did he volunteer to join the military of his own free will, he was granted access to sensitive information and that sets the bar even higher.