Live data from Hacker News

Apple wants rights to the image of apples in Switzerland

wired.com

171–180 of 191 posts

Re: Apple wants rights to the image of apples in Switzerland

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Patents and trademarks are a relic from the past that drastically suppresses innovation and puts technological advancement into slow motion, turning corporate moats into islands flying in the sky with forcefields of lawyers and bureaucracy, and enables a whole market of bad-faith parasites. There is no good-faith argument for their existence. They hurt the general populace for the benefit of some tiny minority of meg…

Registered trademarks are to prevent "passing off", which is simply fraud. But to register a trademark, you have to list the product classes in which you intend to trade. You should not be allowed to register your marque for a class in which you are not already trading. Apple doesn't trade in apples, so their registration application fails (or their lawsuit falls at the first hurdle). Rebecca Vardy successfully regis…

> You should not be allowed to register your marque for a class in which you are not already trading. Apple doesn't trade in apples, so their registration application fails (or their lawsuit falls at the first hurdle).

Or at least in classes you aren't intending to trade in, and you should lose it if you aren't a short period of time after registering

Re: Apple wants rights to the image of apples in Switzerland

#174
post #29

Unfortunate how regular and even IT people don't care how evil and anti-consumer this company is. And still getting more popular somehow.

What am i going to do about it? Viva la revolution?

Every time i vote, some weirdo does stupid things i did not vote for. Every time i pay, some weirdos do stupid things with the money. Every time i complain, nobody really does anything. Every time i'm taught, i'm taught money is everything above anything else.

People with loads of money do really stupid things.

I on the other hand, can't afford to care.

Re: Apple wants rights to the image of apples in Switzerland

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Patents and trademarks are a relic from the past that drastically suppresses innovation and puts technological advancement into slow motion, turning corporate moats into islands flying in the sky with forcefields of lawyers and bureaucracy, and enables a whole market of bad-faith parasites. There is no good-faith argument for their existence. They hurt the general populace for the benefit of some tiny minority of meg…

So what happens when yo invent/create a thing, attempt to commercialize it, and an established corporation just rips you off because there's no barrier to doing so? You're throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Please don't deflect to some other issue (notwithstanding its validity) you don't have an answer for the question.

That's where anti-trust law should come in.

Re: Apple wants rights to the image of apples in Switzerland

#176
post #115
post #71

> Following a protracted back-and-forth between both parties, the IPI partially granted Apple’s request last fall, saying that Apple could have rights relating to only some of the goods it wanted, citing a legal principle that considers generic images of common goods—like apples—to be in the public domain. In the spring, Apple launched an appeal. And the worst part is that Apple is wasting tax-payer money around the…

Agreed. The only mandate for a corporation is growth and revenue. These goals are at odds with the good of people and our planet, as we've seen countless times. Corporations consume most of our resources, produce the most waste, and damage _everything_ more compared to any individual. This won't change, because those with the power to do something benefit from the status quo and don't feel the damage they cause. Capi…

Trademarks are a government-granted monopoly and as such are inherently not capitalistic.

Re: Apple wants rights to the image of apples in Switzerland

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what happens when yo invent/create a thing, attempt to commercialize it, and an established corporation just rips you off because there's no barrier to doing so? You're throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Please don't deflect to some other issue (notwithstanding its validity) you don't have an answer for the question.

That's where anti-trust law should come in.

Why would anti-trust have anything to do with it?

Re: Apple wants rights to the image of apples in Switzerland

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what happens when yo invent/create a thing, attempt to commercialize it, and an established corporation just rips you off because there's no barrier to doing so? You're throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Please don't deflect to some other issue (notwithstanding its validity) you don't have an answer for the question.

> So what happens when yo invent/create a thing, attempt to commercialize it, and an established corporation just rips you off because there's no barrier to doing so? Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. As of right now, the answer is: nothing happens. The established corporation profits, and you suck it up, because what else are you going to do? Sue Apple?

As of right now, you can file for patent protection if your invention is novel, and gain an exclusive right that's good for 20 years. While it's a mediocre system, it exists because people found the alternative of no rules at all to be worse.

Re: Apple wants rights to the image of apples in Switzerland

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do other forms of government not rape the land, build industry, dump chemicals and pollutants, etc? Not sure the history of North Korea, China, Soviet Union, etc is an environmentalist paradise.

Certainly begs the question... are corporations and governments inextricable?

Corporations are governmental creations. There cannot be a corporation without a government.
Post reply on HN