Huh! You learn something new every day- how interesting! Thanks for sharing this ^^

Yes, I agree with that entirely- hence my suggestion that this is a "fold", meaning that it's not worth fighting. My reaction would not have been unlike what the original writer's was- especially when faced with a legal threat.

But this points to a larger issue with society that's been argued on Slashdot n+1 times as is, and I can add little new to that conversation. Suffice to say it worries me tremendously that societies exist in which one can be silenced by spurious or outright invalid legal threats.

The man who sent the email in question was no lawyer, since his later threats allude to having a lawyer start sending form letters and what not.

As far as I can tell he doesn't have a case, but I'm quite far from being an international IP attorney, and between knowing when to hold and when to fold... well, a simple character name is definitely a fold, when you get into the costs of this sort of thing.

Not to say it doesn't piss me right off. This person created the name before the bad-spelling-person ever filed for a trademark. I'd say "That's like Disney suing someone named Mickey before they even created him", but... I worry Disney could have gotten away with that.

You seem to have confused Michael Bay with J.J. Abrams.

My only regret today is that I used up my mod points before reading this comment. +1 mod in whatever category most pleases you.

That's not what he... you know what, no. Nevermind. I like your version better.

Nothing YOU'VE heard of, maybe...

Then what does it-... oh. OH! I see now...

BLOOD for the BLOOD GOD!

All in all, I can't see that being particularly bad for the industry. I'd rather own one powerful PC instead of an XBone and a PS4. I'm hoping it'll push for more focus on gameplay and storytelling when it comes to the exclusive titles, hopefully games that can make full use of a console's unique features (Kinect, the PS4 touchpad, the Wii U's touchscreen, that sort of thing.) Then again, as a lifelong Nintendo fanboy, I'm pretty happy that at this point in time I don't have to worry about their first-party titles doing such a thing. This generation's looking like it'll just be a PC and Wii U for me.

Prayers in abundance for you and your mom both- It's never easy watching such things happen to a person, but you do what you must.

Keeping in mind that people have gotten the latest Sim City to process on a home PC without requiring any additional help from the servers by simply activating a debug mode. I know it's nit-picking, but I'm still kind of holding a grudge about that whole thing.

Other than that, I agree. If you can at least phone home without needing broadband then they're separate arguments, even though I'm not fond at all about the way they've implemented DRM.

I've been using the Galaxy note since late December, and I've gotten only one alert- an Amber alert. It's definitely not just iPhone that has this, they're just a little late to the party.

And for those who worry about what this might be used for... again, I've seen it all of once. No propaganda, no spam, no cost to me.