YoBuckStopsHereElon May Have a Huge Issue Because Microsoft Owns the “X” Trademark
Octagon9561As amusing as it is to see Elon fail, letters like “X” shoud not be trademarkable. Just one indicator that we’re truly reaching capitalist extremism levels of insanity.
sabAlso, how the hell could Microsoft get a patent for X in 2003 when X has been around since 1984, and is pretty much a direct competitor? This makes no sense at all.
The law is a weapon of the rich. You don't have to be right, you just have to be able to afford out-lawyering your competition. Patents are especially revolting.
Of course, my question was rhetorical. I guess it didn't come out so clearly considering it's also, at least in theory, a damned good question.
It was probably clear enough, you just caught me half-asleep and unmedicated. I really dislike patents.
Trademarks can apply to different areas. In this case, Microsoft's trademark is for services related to online chat, not for something like a window manager.
Makes sense I guess. Somehow also makes the trademark even more absurd.
Reminds me a little of Apple v. Apple Records, and how Apple promised never too use their brand to enter into the music industry (like they later did with iTunes anyway).
Apple Computer promised not to enter the music business, changed their mind, and then made an agreement with Apple Records to pay them $26 million in exchange for letting Apple Computer use the “Apple” trademark for music.
Then Apple Records sued Apple Computer because over how they used the trademark for music. Eventually a judge decided that Apple Computer was working within the legal boundaries of their prior contract with Apple Records, so the latter wouldn’t get another bite of that Apple…
ThoughtGoblinHow is Xorg a “direct competitor” to Microsoft? Especially Microsoft’s trademark to X in the gaming market where they own the Xbox and Xorg doesn’t participate at all?
Trademarks protect consumers by preventing fraud and misleading naming. It makes perfect sense that Microsoft owns X in the given market space due to the enormous prevalence of Xbox. Their first console was literally X-shaped and it would be bad for consumers for anyone to be able to make the “X-station” or “X-cube” or some such.
You could not imagine Linux without X11 in 2003. And in 2003, the situation between Microsoft and Linux was rather tense.
That said, I managed to somehow forget about Xbox. I agree it makes sense that Sony couldn't launch an "X console" with a gigantic X on the side.
So yes, I want thinking it through. I do however think that using this trademark against X.xom would be ill conceived, no matter how much I hate Musk. If they start moving into gaming it might be different though, so fair enough.
Thanks for making me think it through more! :)
GustavoM“You better not touch the F word! Call of Duty did it first!”
Welp. I can see it happening.
Trademarks are a government-enforced (i.e. publicly-mandated) monopoly, which is fundamentally antithetical to capitalism.
Capitalism: “an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.”
For sure, there are many shades of grey to be had here, and the world has 0 purely capitalist societies (in fact, such a society is inherently impossible). But every time the public controls trade and industry, e.g. when enforcing trademark law, that isn’t capitalism.
FibbyPrivate property laws are a government-enforced (i.e. publicly-mandated) style of ownership.
Fure sure, there are many shades of grey to be had here, but Elon Musk owning Twitter is the ultimate form of communism.
Trademarks only cover very significant uses. Microsoft can (and apparently did) trademark X in connection to the Xbox, so competitors can’t make a game console called an XStation or PlayStation X, but people not making video game consoles aren’t affected.
You can also protect colors. Like there is a defined “target red” and “home depot orange” (probably a twitter blue that I guess will be up for grabs soon). You could use that orange to open, say, a day-care, hair salon, or auto-shop, but not a hardware store. Basically if you can show it would cause consumer confusion you can protect it.