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Dear Instagram

blog.bolt.co

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Re: Dear Instagram

#81

Post by uptown »

mikejarema wrote: post #61
uptown wrote: post #21

Clickable link to the Bolt homepage: https://bolt.co/ I always find it annoying when the blog company logo doesn't bring you back to the company's homepage.

Me too, so what is best practice? I put together a simple layout for my company's blog and made this link very explicit specific, see: http://blog.vidoyen.com Is that more in line with a blog reader would generally expect? I'm genuinely curious, because I've seen variants of this comment time and time again on HN.

My personal preference is for the top-left logo to always bring a user back to the domain's top-level ignoring any sub-domains, though I'm not sure that could be considered best-practice.

This approach works for me though, because I find most company-blogs to have a much lower volume of published content than a website whose primary function is that of a blog. In most cases, I've wound up on the site from a direct-link to whatever blog post I'm reading. If what I've read in that post is interesting, I'm probably going to want to check out the product or service they're selling before reading any more of their company blog.

Re: Dear Instagram

#82

Post by ujjwal_wadhawan »

diminish wrote: post #62
bhandziuk wrote: post #58

Dear Bolt.co, I truly wish you luck in your fight against Instagram. Name stealing is a rough game. I know because I have been traveling on Bolt buses for 8 years now ( http://www.boltbus.com/ ). I know there is some confusion because you have basically the same symbol. Maybe there aren't too many ways to vary a lightning bolt shooting through an "O" in the word "Bolt" but I welcome you (and Instagram to try). Sincer…

and here's the cms called http://bolt.cm I'm curious who got this name earlier.

How many people remember bo.lt from 2011 ? https://www.facebook.com/getbolt

Re: Dear Instagram

#83

Post by Smirnoff »

bhandziuk wrote: post #58

Dear Bolt.co, I truly wish you luck in your fight against Instagram. Name stealing is a rough game. I know because I have been traveling on Bolt buses for 8 years now ( http://www.boltbus.com/ ). I know there is some confusion because you have basically the same symbol. Maybe there aren't too many ways to vary a lightning bolt shooting through an "O" in the word "Bolt" but I welcome you (and Instagram to try). Sincer…

Instagram/Facebook is NOT going to do anything about the name. Just look at the history. Facebook launched an iOS app and called it "Paper." And guess what? There was a very popular app, which was called "Paper" too.

From recent cases I only remember Microsoft to change their mind in regards to their "Metro" OS. However, even in that case Microsoft decided to back off because "Metro" was a big retailer that sold Microsoft's products, so bad blood could cause bottom line to take a hit.

Re: Dear Instagram

#84

Post by bhandziuk »

aespinoza wrote: post #65
bhandziuk wrote: post #58

Dear Bolt.co, I truly wish you luck in your fight against Instagram. Name stealing is a rough game. I know because I have been traveling on Bolt buses for 8 years now ( http://www.boltbus.com/ ). I know there is some confusion because you have basically the same symbol. Maybe there aren't too many ways to vary a lightning bolt shooting through an "O" in the word "Bolt" but I welcome you (and Instagram to try). Sincer…

I think this is different. Instagram's Bolt & Bolt are both Apps. Which will be searched for in the same apps stores. Bolt Bus will definitely not be confused with the Bolt App.

Probably true. Though BoltBus does have an iTunes and Android app, too.

Re: Dear Instagram

#85

Post by grabeh »

bhandziuk wrote: post #73
sheetjs wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you miss the problem here. There is very little confusion between BoltBus and Bolt.co in the sense that they are in completely different industries and the likelihood of confusion is low. As bolt.co is claiming, there are many people who appear to be confused between instagram's offering and the company's product (they are arguably in the same space and possibly competitors).

Yes, I suppose you're right. Though how big would one of these need to be for the other to care? I surely could not name my blanket company Microsoft and get away with it, right?

The key issue is over whether or not the mark has a widespread reputation/is well-known. If I am able to show my mark has either, then if someone makes use of a similar/identical mark but for completely different services/goods then I can restrain that other party's use if I can show that their use takes unfair advantage of my mark.

For example if Microsoft Combine Harvesters popped up, it would be relatively straightforward to argue that they are making use of the Microsoft mark for the sole purpose of attracting attention to its product, by effectively piggy-backing on the real Microsoft's reputation.

Proving reputation is difficult but generally you will have to show substantial investment in marketing/advertising in the relevant territories.

If I can't show reputation I am limited to actions for straight infringement (identical mark/identical services/goods) or confusion-based actions (similar mark/similar services/goods).

Re: Dear Instagram

#86

Post by umberto »

untog wrote: post #70
renekooi wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idunno, the web browser has been discontinued for 3 years now. It also seems that bolt.co and Instagram's Bolt are much more similar to each other (apps dedicated to person→person communication) than Bolt the browser is to either of them, so the risk of confusion is much smaller.

It also seems that bolt.co and Instagram's Bolt are much more similar to each other (apps dedicated to person→person communication) I disagree. A web browser is used for person to person communication too. All three are used for very, very different forms of it, though.

Trademark is about preventing confusion, not owning words. A browser is very different from an app voice/text app.

Re: Dear Instagram

#87

Post by LeonidasXIV »

ajross wrote: post #76
micampe wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The strange-made-up-word naming trend is annoying Why? Is it really a “trend”? Chevrolet, Toyota, Lexus, Microsoft, Kodak, Leica, Nikon, Canon, Nokia, Rolex. Some of these are not entirely made up, but they sound like it if you are not familiar with small Japanese towns.

Toyota is the name of the founder, though the transliteration is archaic. We'd spell it "Toyoda" today.

Same as Honda which is also named after its founder. The transliteration in Honda is modern though, as both Toyota and Honda in Japanese end with a 田.

But back to the naming thing, I think it is not the worst idea to name things after japanese terms, because often they can be pronounced quite easily and are often rather memorable. I have often forgotten company names because they sounded so stupid and hard to remember.

Re: Dear Instagram

#88

Post by chris_wot »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #74
TheHippo wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that Instagram is trying to build a similar product with the same name, whereas the mentioned bus company is just a bus company that has a few stops in the United States. So most of the people living on this world will never even get chance to confuse the two of them.

I don't really understand in what way this would be considered a similar product; aside from the fact it's a mobile app, they don't seem to overlap.

That is exactly what the problem is.

Re: Dear Instagram

#90

Post by bhandziuk »

grabeh wrote: post #85
bhandziuk wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I suppose you're right. Though how big would one of these need to be for the other to care? I surely could not name my blanket company Microsoft and get away with it, right?

The key issue is over whether or not the mark has a widespread reputation/is well-known. If I am able to show my mark has either, then if someone makes use of a similar/identical mark but for completely different services/goods then I can restrain that other party's use if I can show that their use takes unfair advantage of my mark. For example if Microsoft Combine Harvesters popped up, it would be relatively straigh…

Interesting. So what is Microsoft Combine Harvesters was founded before Microsoft Corporation yes the latter became larger faster? Even though Microsoft Corp is larger they were also later to the game. Can they try to get exclusive rights to Microsoft?
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