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Google sues me for using the word “droid” in my company name Orpheusdroid

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Re: Google sues me for using the word “droid” in my company name Orpheusdroid

#151

Post by ghaff »

SpelingBeeChamp wrote: post #139
ghaff wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 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.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_rule_(attorney%27s_fe...

However, 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.

Re: Google sues me for using the word “droid” in my company name Orpheusdroid

#152

Post by LoSboccacc »

nix23 wrote: post #147
LoSboccacc wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ugh 1) trademark don't cover just exact matches 2) trademarks are in their own classes, you can't litigate across classes 3) common words are perfectly fine as trademarks, as long as commonly associated with a product

>common words are perfectly fine as trademarks, as long as commonly associated with a product Yes exactly and Droid is NOT associated with a Smartphone-OS but Android is.

it's as if you only read one point out of three and I'm out of charitable interpretations thus unable to further the discussion.

Re: Google sues me for using the word “droid” in my company name Orpheusdroid

#153

Post by OldHand2018 »

ghaff wrote: post #123
kwanbix wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is because in USA you pay your lawyers. In other countries, if you loose, you have to pay the lawyers of the other part.

I 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.

My wife is a lawyer and has filed many cases and recovered attorney's fees for her client.

The court system is busy and not very sympathetic to parties that waste the courts time. You need to have an actual dispute that needs the court system to resolve.

If a business is stonewalling you and rebuffing you at every reasonable attempt to resolve an issue, you are highly likely to get your costs paid for, especially if that business has no leg to stand on. If your initial complaint documents page after page of your attempts to solve the problem outside of the court system, the judge is probably going to be extremely unforgiving to the other side.

Re: Google sues me for using the word “droid” in my company name Orpheusdroid

#154

Post by dnh44 »

ghaff wrote: post #129
yndoendo wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This simple change in the USA legal system would benefit a lot of people. Prevent frivolous lawsuits. Allow the poor to sue when they do have a case but no money to fallow through. and help end SLAPP. Just another example where the USA needs improvement and is not the best in the world.

>Allow the poor to sue when they do have a case but no money to fallow through. The issue is that lawsuits are often not obvious. There's almost always a non-trivial risk of losing. Therefore, in a universal "loser pays" system, it's even riskier for a poor (or even middle-class) person to sue a company given that they could be responsible for bankruptcy-level legal fees if they lose.

In the UK lawyers have insurance to cover them in case they lose. This encourages them to take pro-bono cases when there is a decent chance of winning.

Re: Google sues me for using the word “droid” in my company name Orpheusdroid

#156

Post by chiefalchemist »

As 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.

Re: Google sues me for using the word “droid” in my company name Orpheusdroid

#157

Post by pjmlp »

pyuser583 wrote: post #135
yndoendo wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This simple change in the USA legal system would benefit a lot of people. Prevent frivolous lawsuits. Allow the poor to sue when they do have a case but no money to fallow through. and help end SLAPP. Just another example where the USA needs improvement and is not the best in the world.

In the UK, litigants usually take out an insurance policy. So at the end of the day, the insurer pays if the plaintiff loses. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. It gives an insurance company a very large say in matters of justice. But insurance is one of the wonders of the modern world.

It is also common in Germany, however here the insurance can state it had enough from you and after a certain threshold refuse to cover up.

Re: Google sues me for using the word “droid” in my company name Orpheusdroid

#158

Post by m463 »

ghaff wrote: post #112

I 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 over…

"remember, we have a legal system, not a justice system"

Re: Google sues me for using the word “droid” in my company name Orpheusdroid

#159

Post by [deleted] »

unishark wrote: post #133
jackcviers3 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using this the next time an objectivist capitalist starts getting angry about how government regulations are all worthless.

Trademark infringement can be viewed as fraud and a criminal matter with an actual victim (the person scammed into buying the fake Android phone). Patents are a different story, since the idea itself is the value, and different people can come up with the same idea independently.

[deleted]

Re: Google sues me for using the word “droid” in my company name Orpheusdroid

#160

Post by maxlybbert »

jackcviers3 wrote: post #78
xmprt wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trademarks are about customer protection more than protecting the company. If another company starts selling "Android" phones that have a completely different OS, that ruins the Android brand but also makes it difficult for customers to trust that the product they're buying is legitimate unless the Android trademark is defended.

Using this the next time an objectivist capitalist starts getting angry about how government regulations are all worthless.

The concept of trademarks dates back to master craftsmen putting identifying marks on their work to build up a reputation. Trademark law gives that practice some legal enforcement.

I’m sure you can find some anarchist who would oppose any law, but I’m much more familiar with people who want a small government and wouldn’t mind that government enforcing trademark laws. They also generally support truth in advertising laws or labeling laws (“you should be able to sell anything you want, as long as you tell people what’s in it”), or product liability laws. Those laws make for a better functioning marketplace.

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