Round Two in Sky vs Skype trademark scrap goes to Murdoch's men British broadcaster Sky UK has won round two in its trademark infringement battle with Skype. The European Union General Court found on Tuesday that the two names are too similar and could cause confusion. In 2012 and 2013 the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) upheld Sky’s complaint, but Skype then …
I'd rather they both stop farting around and throwing money at their legal teams. They should spend the money on something that will actually benefit customers such as improving their service. You can buy a lot of programmer hours for the price of a single lawyer hour.
Yes, but if someone comes along and tells you that you have to change the name of one of your most recognized brands just because, you're kind of put in the position of having to defend that. People don't invest in brand names just because they like to waste money - it can result in very material gain or loss. Let's face it, Kraft could produce generic knock-offs of most of Cadbury's line-up, but they were still willing to throw lots of money their way because that name guarantees them sales.
Anyway, this case isn't really about MS vs. Murdoch. It's really a judgement on how stupid we think people are. Confusing Skype and Sky because the first three letters are the same? I'm never letting anyone cook me Shitake Mushrooms if the verdict comes back that the humanity really has become that stupid.
Have they done any testing among the population to see if the contention 'this would confuse the plebs' is actually, y'know, confusing the plebs? Or are we such morons that the word 'Sky' or the picture of a cloud will have us hopelessly torn among choices and we would know not whither to turn?
For their next trick, they're probably going to be targetting purveyors of large open metal building waste disposal units and those who sell playground rope-based toys enjoyed mainly by young girls, not to mention anyone caught selling shell-shaped prawn cocktail flavoured snacks.
Calls to Skype and parent company Microsoft for comment were not returned at time of publication
I've had that problem with Skype as well, best thing is to turn it off and on again.
More seriously though, it's starting to feel as though BSkyB are the new Easy-group, claiming infringements on anything with "Sky" in the title. I can just about understand the Sky Drive case (though even that seemed a little far fetched - is Sky particularly well known anywhere outside of the UK?), but this one seems a little more desperate. TBH until I'd read this article I'd never considered that there could be any kind of (alleged) confusion between the brands.
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That grown-up "professional" people get out of bed in the morning and go to work to argue about this crap.
Whilst I may occasionally grumble about my job, it does make me thankful that at least I spend my work day doing something constructive.
Well, it isn't. If it were we would all be saying "skip" as the 'e' is silent and we're not. If the court found against that then they must have been phonetically comparing the two words in another language.
I don't know about anyone else but I signed up to Sky because of their marketing. It's everywhere, every time I look up, above me all the time. Fscking Murdoch can take his fscking sky and shove it.
Wait, what, you mean... the atmosphere is not owned by Sky Plc despite having the word "sky" in it? Oh I see, solicitors found prior art in this case.
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