191–199 of 199 posts
The purpose of trademark is to prevent the counterfeit item be recognized as the same as trademarked item.
If the item is truly meant to refer the trademarked item, in this case realtime 3DCG rendering, there is no violation of the trademark. Isn't it? It's the same reason I can write any trademarked term here and not violate the trademark law.
US law system is beyond my understanding.
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Too bad? I think most people are smart enough to separate entertainment from marketing materials. I think this ruling is great, maybe we can finally get racing games with real cars and realistic damage modeling.
I think it was the television show 24 where the villains weren't allowed to drive Ford cars.
I would go as far as to argue that advertisements in general aren't considered protected speech on either end. Otherwise cigarette companies could still market to children.
Maybe this will mean that games won't have to make up whacky (and confusing) off-brand names for every gun.
I love those little ingame props, or they can reflect a lot of interesting nuances and opinions about weapons.
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Fair enough and technically, I think you're right that it's not a "defense" with legal precedence (and therefore not an actual defense). But, I don't think that reality stops many companies from trying to stop the use of their brand or product in other fields because they believe they're protecting the brand. That said, this AM General case seems to be a licensing case -- they want money for the use of the of their d…
Suppose Activision sets a game in Los Angeles. A crucial mission involves a running battle down Hollywood Boulevard. Should Graumann's Chinese Theater be entitled to money for the use of the appearance of their famous building? To what extent should Google pay AM General, Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, and so forth for the use of their vehicles' appearances in Streetview? Finally: someone makes a Mail Simulator game, in wh…
None. Google captured photos in public, they didn't put those vehicles there, they don't want them there and they don't add any value to streetview.
It's hard to compare that to Call of Duty where activision is intentionally modeling, texture mapping, animating and rendering someone else's design for the express purpose of adding value to their product.
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People using it colloquially is exactly the thing that leads to trademark erosion. Most eroded trade marks were previously owned and registered. It's not the registration that gives trademark protection. Trademark protection exists to protect the market place. It prevents companies from piggybacking on someone else's success. But if the consumer doesn't think that "Jeep" is a mark, but a form factor, then no one is p…
Really I think this illustrates best that trademarks are of dubious sanity. They attempt to police language but have no real control over it - pouncing like attack dogs to try to set an example to the kind of people who call all game consoles "Nintendos". In practice it seems like makework for lawyers which we need like a hole in a head - while to defend imaginary property in pursuit of imaginary lost profits. I can'…
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There seemed to be tons of Jeep brand SUVs in Italy when I was there in October. Our rental car was one without asking for it, and there were four in a row at our hotel in Amalfi. Maybe they are popular in tourist areas?
Jeep, being part of FCA Group (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), is closer to Italy automotive industry than any other SUV brand.
Think of 25,000 to 35,000 for a "Jeep Renegade" (which is rather common in Italy), vs. 50,000 to 70,000 for (say) a BMW X3.
https://www.quattroruote.it/listino/jeep/renegade
https://www.quattroruote.it/listino/bmw/x3
Speaking of the Renegade, they are manufactured in Italy, and have the same platform as the Fiat 500X, and they are largely 2 wheel drive.
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> Elevators and Fridges used to be brand names (of the Otis Elevator company and Frigidaire, respectively) There's no real reason to think "fridge" is shortened from "Frigidaire" as opposed to "refrigerator".
Well, in Spanish a refrigerator can be colloquially called a "frigider". I've never seen it in writing though.
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And plenty of reason to think against. The "dg" sound doesn't come through in "Frigidaire" at all. It does have an actual letter "d" present, but with the "i" in between the sound becomes entirely different. Compare to refrigerator, where the "frige" portion of the word slants easily to rhyme with "ridge."
I can't go that far. What country are you from? I would have said the second syllable of "refrigerator", and the first syllable of "Frigidaire", both obligatorily rhyme with "ridge". There's no alternative. "Frigidaire" should only really differ from "frigid air" in terms of prosody.
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I can't go that far. What country are you from? I would have said the second syllable of "refrigerator", and the first syllable of "Frigidaire", both obligatorily rhyme with "ridge". There's no alternative. "Frigidaire" should only really differ from "frigid air" in terms of prosody.
I think they're assuming Frigidaire is pronounced with a hard G, which is fair enough if you haven't heard it spoken before.