11–20 of 39 posts
IANAL, but isn't it incumbent upon IKEA to issue a C&D, whether they want to or not, in order to show they are actively using their trademark? From what I've heard, if they didn't, someone else might have a case that their trademark is open to use.
IANAL, but isn't it incumbent upon IKEA to issue a C&D, whether they want to or not, in order to show they are actively using their trademark? From what I've heard, if they didn't, someone else might have a case that their trademark is open to use.
http://abovethelaw.com/2012/07/cease-and-desist-letter-of-th...
Another way to deal with unauthorized use of a trademark is to authorize it. So IKEA could have started with a letter asking IKEA Hackers suggesting a potential agreement and a nominal fee. An imperative cease and desist letter isn't required.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
girl, not guy.
I'm as anti-sexism as the next rational human being, but I too catch myself doing this default-to-guy thing. Any idea why it happens?
Given the obvious benefits TO Ikea of ikeahackers.net, it seems likely that it was an overzealous legal department move to "protect" the trademark. It's easy to forget how many people there are in a company like Ikea, and the fact that not every trademark cease-and-desist gets vetted by the people who run the company. The thing is they should be able to protect it by simply "licensing" it to the guy who runs ikeahack…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
girl, not guy.
I'm as anti-sexism as the next rational human being, but I too catch myself doing this default-to-guy thing. Any idea why it happens?
I feel awkward saying ya'll a lot so I use you guys. But many times the group I am referring to is female so I use you girls or ladies. This can get you in trouble depending on the age of the group sometimes I get: "are you calling us young/old" and then I go back to ya'll.
What will happen next? They will make the "IKEA Hackers" logo look less like the official IKEA logo, and they'll put a big "not an official IKEA site" banner on each page. My guess.
That's my guess as well. That would have been the solution to go with from the start - putting in a simple disclaimer along the lines of "not affiliated with IKEA in any way". It's what I would have done if IkeaHackers was my site. If I was an Ikea exec though, I'd additionally suggest a partnership with the site. Displaying Ikea ads and creating a funnel from individual articles to Ikea's order form would be a great…
It is possible that IKEA does not want to be associated with a site that encourages people to use their products in ways they were not designed for. I noticed a hack to make a baby changing table by taking an IKEA dresser and attaching stuff to the top. Obviously that is something that anyone is free to do with the furniture they bought at IKEA. But... if something happened and a baby is injured and IKEA is seen as endorsing such a thing, they might be sued. I know some places are more litigious than others but companies often take some fairly hard-line "cover your ass" steps to avoid such a thing.
I can't tell what's an ad and what is content on that site.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
girl, not guy.
I'm as anti-sexism as the next rational human being, but I too catch myself doing this default-to-guy thing. Any idea why it happens?
"Some guy couldn't make a right turn at the light for 10 friggin minutes so now I'm late"
Not necessarily a guy driving (let's suppose I couldn't see the driver; I just know their car didn't move for forever) and it's unfair/sexist to men to assume it was a man, could have just as easily been a woman.
"Hey guys, is everyone ready to go to lunch?"
There might well people girls in the group that's going to lunch (there often are) and I don't want to offend them. But "Hey people, " doesn't sound right, "Hey folks," doesn't either, and "Hey everybody," isn't a good substitute either: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8LqozaaB7s&t=1m12s
Anyone have a good gender-neutral word I can use instead?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
girl, not guy.
I'm as anti-sexism as the next rational human being, but I too catch myself doing this default-to-guy thing. Any idea why it happens?
This is a really weird example, as this is one of those cases where English actually DOES have a gender-neutral pronoun (someone).