back to article HBO slaps takedown demand on 13-year-old girl's painting because it used 'Winter is coming'

It turns out King Joffrey isn't the biggest scumbag at HBO after all. A father says lawyers at the cable TV network demanded his 13-year-old daughter's artwork be taken off the internet after she drew a lovely picture titled "winter is coming" and posted the image to arts'n'craft website RedBubble. "My daughter, who happens …

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  1. Nameless Faceless Computer User

    Talk is cheap. Lawyers are not. Where can I donate some money to take these clowns down?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Props to Mr. Nichols, by the way, for getting Winter is coming into the title AND the article AND the image description AND the URL.

  3. adam payne

    How can someone have been able to trademark a well known phrase such as "Winter is coming"?

    #facepalm

    Please HBO don't take down my post.

  4. Alien8n

    Games Workshop all over again

    When will these companies realise that just because you own a trademark it doesn't make it valid for EVERY use?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I must be warped

    I saw the headline and the caption and thought.. ah, it's a girl called Winter and she's.. but no.. not that.

  6. PLAzmA

    How can they trademark the phrase when there are so many examples of prior art in the public domain of the use of this phrase going back long long before HBO's show. Do a google image search for the phrase and you will see its used in lots of memes and similar images to the one produced by this poor child.... I dont understand who's arse got bend out of shape by the picture for this to even ever happen.... Oh wait....

    Could this be a publicity stunt to keep the stupid show in peoples mind and in a few days/weeks they will issue a public apology and invite the kid onset for a photo opportunity and to make amends..... watch this space.

  7. Daz555

    I am happy to state winter is coming. Because it bloody is coming.

    Winter is coming.

    It starts on 21st December this year.

  8. dmacleo

    used often in cold climates

    here in Maine the phrase winter is coming has been used often by many for many many decades..

  9. Gert Leboski
    Trollface

    Go on 4chan and co...

    This is exactly where you want the prats from 4chan and similar seedy, ne'er-do-well-infested, dark corners of the internet to go and coat this with their own particular brand of chaos and disorder. They could get themselves some good PR here. :-D

  10. Florida1920

    Sue me, HBO

    I'm going to splash the words "winter is coming" all over every domain I own. Bring it on, dickheads.

  11. Eddy Ito

    Are condoms considered clothing?

    Hmmm, I think "Winter is coming" would be a good catch phrase for my new line of cool mint flavored condoms.

    1. Gert Leboski

      Re: Are condoms considered clothing?

      Now I have the twisted and sick image of Jack Frost giving a special facial to the assortment of severed heads on display in all the GoT billboard adverts I see around. Thanks for that.

      1. Eddy Ito
        Devil

        Re: Are condoms considered clothing?

        That's perfect! The commercial will be absolutely wonderful.

        "It's cold outside but it's warm in 'ere! Jack Frost Condoms: Winter is coming"

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's all her own fault!

    She "should've" asked!

    Oops...

    www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37092366

    Specsavers seeks to trademark 'should've' catchphrase - BBC News

  13. BazzF

    Cue a rash of

    Blinter is coming

    Vinter is coming

    etc.

    What would be much better would be picures of warm tones with Summer is coming. Fuck HBO.

  14. Gert Leboski

    I'll just leave this here and sit back.

    https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/jon-snow.jpg

    1. Haku

      Re: I'll just leave this here and sit back.

      Hahahahaha! Brilliant.

      Here's a clickable link of it so people don't have to copy/paste:

      https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/jon-snow.jpg

      1. Gert Leboski

        Re: I'll just leave this here and sit back.

        Thanks Haku. I don't have a shiny badge so I don't think I can do that. That's the price I pay for being a bit of a lurker for the last 7+ years. :/

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: I'll just leave this here and sit back.

          It intrigues me how you found that image - assuming it isn't a composite. Was it a case that it was fortuitously remembered - or just search serendipity?

          1. Gert Leboski

            Re: I'll just leave this here and sit back.

            It stuck in my mind and a single google search brought up the image.

    2. Florida1920

      Re: I'll just leave this here and sit back.

      He should be sued for wearing that tie.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I would boycott HBO for this - but their programs are the best things I can get on Bittorrent...

  16. Stevie

    Bah!

    How about we all tweet pictures of the Autumnal scenery and add a caption? Can we think of one we can all use?

  17. shmuel6

    This is where all the anti piracy BS bites you in the @$$. It trains companies to Chase after every Tom Dick and Shmuck to "Protect" itself.

  18. macspite

    Set up a fighting fund for countering idiotic trsademark protection? Just do it

    Ask for donations, however small. Every little helps

    This is only a suggestion, feel free to Nave it your way

    Thanks to the Register this comment is connecting people, because you're worth it,

    As for me, trademarking? I'm lovin' it - making America great again

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    lawyers....................................

    Iceland = company

    V

    Iceland = country

  20. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

    Fair Use

    Using that phrase within the artwork might be protected by the 'fair use' doctrine. It's possible that HBO objected to the use of that phrase as the file name when it was uploaded. It would then appear in a search along with their branded merchandise. So, change the name and put it back up.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Fair Use already Streisanded

      " It's possible that HBO objected to the use of that phrase as the file name when it was uploaded. It would then appear in a search along with their branded merchandise. "

      Did you actually try putting that into Google before coming out with that attempt at pro-HBO PR?

      They are totally Streisanded at the moment, the front page is full of this story whereas if they had done the obvious thing - i.e. nothing whatsoever - an obscure file wouldn't make it onto any search page anyone is likely to look at. Because Google has clever algorithms called "Page Rank" to ensure that's exactly what happens. If I put a file called Winter is Coming and a picture of the various tits on my bird table (as distinct from the various tits that work for HBO IP department) it won't make it onto page 300, let alone the first page.

      As it is, Kasparov's book of the same name is on about page 2. I await with interest what HBO does about that.

  21. keith_w

    I think that PAUL CLAYTON, LARRY EHRLICH, DAVID LAZAR, TOM SIX

    should sue HBO and GRRM for stealing ther phrase:

    Done laid around, done stayed around this old town too long

    Summer's almost gone, winter's coming on

    Done laid around, done stayed around this old town too long

    And it seems like I've got to travel on

    And it seems like I've got to travel on

    Gotta Travel On

    Performed by lots of people including Bob :Dylan, Neil Young, Billy Grammar and a host of others

  22. Paul Herber Silver badge

    Game of Thrones? I know what I do on the throne every morning, I often take the newspaper in there with me. I'd give it 5 minutes if I were you.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I still haven't got round to watching Game of Thrones.

    Maybe I'll pirate it one day because screw you HBO.

  24. Uffish

    Prior use ?

    Ezra Pound (Lustra, 1916):

    Winter is icumen in,

    Lhude sing Goddamm,

    Raineth drop and staineth slop,

    And how the wind doth ramm!

    Sing: Goddamm.

    Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,

    An ague hath my ham.

    Freezeth river, turneth liver,

    Damm you; Sing: Goddamm.

    Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,

    So 'gainst the winter's balm.

    Sing goddamm, damm, sing goddamm,

    Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.

    (a parody of the the 13th century song "Sumer Is Icumen In").

    And all sing "Goddamm, DAMM the fartwits at HBO".

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Prior use ? - Ezra Pound

      Ezra Pound wrote an immensely long poem attacking capitalism and arguing that culture was universal and couldn't be appropriated by commercial interests.

      "with usura [i.e. rent seeking, which is basically what HBO is doing]

      ...

      no picture is made to endure nor to live with

      but it is made to sell and sell quickly"

      He may have been a nutcase of paranoid tendencies who thought Mussolini was a great thinker, but he had a point.

  25. ProfessorLarry

    Trademarked speech

    The idiocy of allowing the trademarking of common, widely used phrases was mapped out and lampooned in my 1995 column "Registered Peopleware," reprinted in _The Peopleware Papers_ (Prentice Hall, 2001). The bulk of the story is constructed almost entirely from trademarked words and phrases, such as "We've thought of everything", "The Best Solution", and "Bad Idea." Pity the poor meteorologist or climate scientist who now can no longer say "winter is coming." [Disclaimer: All trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.]

  26. sisk

    As I understand trademark related laws (read: IANAL and thus could be wrong) there's no way in hell that it could legitimately be used in this instance to block the distribution of a child's painting. And if it CAN be used that way then IP law is even more broken than I thought.

  27. Paul

    I hereby declare I own the trademark to "Fuck Off HBO".

    Anyone who wishes to use that phrase must pay a licence fee; the licence fee is £1 or $1, to be paid to the Cancer Research charity.

    1. Vic

      I own the trademark to "Fuck Off HBO".

      Anyone who wishes to use that phrase must pay a licence fee

      Per use? I'm going to be broke...

      Vic.

  28. Anon41

    Winter is coming

    Please note this is in no way a reference to Game of Thrones. I'm just stating a fact!

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Stupid

    There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.

    Frank Zappa

    And America has way more than its fair share.... after all they made Trump president!

  30. NANOTECH

    CUT CABLE DUMP DISH

    Whenever I see the abuse of trademarks in this way, I cringe having had to fight similar suits and threats over the years. Beat microsoft years ago, and now am fighting dish as they claim they own trademark dish, when in fact, they don't, the registered dish network. This has gone on for over a year where I keep getting threatened and bullied by dish network. I offered to sell them my url, even lease it to them if they are so concerned. After all, it will cost them more to sue than what I am asking, a measly $5K, so makes you wonder what motivates companies like HBO in this case whereby an innocent autistic childs art work would be attacked over such a generic phrase that probably no one even knew about until now.

    Protest with your pocketbooks and wallets, drop HBO from your TV cable or dish subscription, in fact, a move to put these monopolies out of business is well under way with new media centers, or as we use to call them, the black box which allows you to watch what you want when you want, no more rip off costs for PPV rentals, so I hit them in their bottom line and no longer pay subscription fees saving thousands to date. Nothing better than FREE-PPV.com so see how much you can save and fight back against these bully monopolies who have ripped us off for decades. Stream your way to savings. Best way to beat these bullies is to post all over the place winter is coming and let them attack everyone.

  31. David 4

    This should never have been trademarked as it is an English phrase that has been used extensively thoughout the world since the 'Winter' season was named.

    The people who are responsible for trademarks are just morons shoud not be allowed to trademark terms that are in general use, or that are part of the standard English language.

    Copy and share the image with the girls name/story across the world.

  32. jelabarre59

    Geek code

    So re-do the title in all caps, and replace the "I" with "1" and the "O" with "0".

    When the HBO fuckwits come complaininng, tell them "No, it says 'w1nter 1s c0ming', an entirely different phrase."

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Winter is coming

    Hey, it was only last month that I thought Winter is Coming. And then I thought, ah, it's December so it has come, if I work for the Met Office. Then I thought, ah, Winter is Coming, but it has not yet come. When I think that Winter is Coming I think of snow and ice and all things nice. Although Winter is Coming, it has not yet come. But Winter is Coming. It is, honestly. Winter is Coming.

    On the 21st it will be a different thing. But until then, Winter is Coming. Then again, after the 21st, even though it will have come, it will be less than 12 months before Winter is Coming happens again. indeed, Winter is Coming happens every year.

    Winter is Coming is not my favourite time of year. But Winter is Coming means Christmas is Coming (TM).[1] So Winter is Coming also means nice thoughts about Christmas.

    Winter is Coming, and the goose is getting fat. Yum, yum. Winter is Coming, nice.

    Twats. (Anonymous, obviously.)

    []1 You are not allowed to steal this, you cunts.

  34. Mpeler
    Paris Hilton

    Pounding away again, Ezra and Mike...

    Ah for the Auld dayze of groat of the day on the header line:

    Winter is icumin in, Lhude sing Goddamn....

    (And Paris is going Sumer, Sumer I want SUMER is icumin in, I'm f-f-f-freezing --^^^)

  35. bitwise

    "The Smiley Company"

    I had a takedown notice from "The Smiley Company" after I made a tshirt with (my own design) of smiley faces and used the word smiley in the name.

    It was the biggest load of bullshit... it's not like I'd even sold any.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Prior usage?

    HBO better slap a take-down notice on Google for hosting this poem written in 1862.

    https://books.google.co.uk/books?pg=PA166&dq=%22winter+is+coming%22&id=W85LAQAAMAAJ

  37. Robert Baker
    Flame

    List please?

    Someone should publish a complete list of all shows by the Heartless Bastards Organisation, so that we can all boycott them. Let them see how much their "trademarks" are worth if they're rendered worthless by the fact that their shows no longer have any viewers.

    In the meantime, they can shove their "trademarks" where the sun don't shine, closely followed by at least one lighted stick of dynamite.

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Winter is HERE

    https://static1.e621.net/data/e3/b6/e3b672270dbf40806e7f59b273f931c0.jpg

    from left to right: Puzzle, an Anglo-Indian giraffe (very long story) and Diamond, a zebra who thinks that black is a drab colour and needs to be brightened up a little, and Nightshade, an Egyptian jackal who has no sense of humor at all, and, unlike Diamond, thinks that black is her colour. Diamond and Nightshade are NOT friends. Diamond has just hit Nightshade with a very large snowball.

    The takedown notice for this one ought to be interesting.

  39. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/12/winter_is_coming/

  40. This post has been deleted by its author

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