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Topic: Several people trying to trademark Bitcoin in Europe (reminder) (Read 2742 times)

hero member
Activity: 540
Merit: 500
The future begins today
Very interesting.

I wonder why MTGox is interested in trademark bitcoin in europe.
legendary
Activity: 892
Merit: 1002
1 BTC =1 BTC
Or better, we, as a community, should do such a thing. Every bitcoin/wallet user could pay 0.1 bitcoin and with
this money we can protect everything there is, names, images, protocol and also file a worldwide patent.
Is there really any need though? As long as said names, images and protocol are all released under an open-source or royalty free license what does it matter? At this point I'm pretty sure 'prior art' covers most aspects of BTC (the name, the frequently used logos and the protocol) so we really shouldn't have anything to worry about.

I don't like the idea that one company is the owner of the name 'bitcoin'. (don't know what possible future implications can be.)

I would like to see that Bitcoin is the owner of the brand Bitcoin and everything that relates.
I would like to see that every user of a bitcoin-wallet is a (stock)owner of Bitcoin "the company".

We have everything available to make this happen, with GLBSE we could all be shareholder of the non profit Bitcoin organisation.
Why should we wait until a 'for profit' individual/company like Tibanne gets this and maybe sells it all to G or MS or worse...
hero member
Activity: 662
Merit: 500
Or better, we, as a community, should do such a thing. Every bitcoin/wallet user could pay 0.1 bitcoin and with
this money we can protect everything there is, names, images, protocol and also file a worldwide patent.
Is there really any need though? As long as said names, images and protocol are all released under an open-source or royalty free license what does it matter? At this point I'm pretty sure 'prior art' covers most aspects of BTC (the name, the frequently used logos and the protocol) so we really shouldn't have anything to worry about.
legendary
Activity: 892
Merit: 1002
1 BTC =1 BTC
LOL..by the time they get the trademark no-one will be mining it anymore.

The coins and the exchanges will be around for a long time.
Tibanne or anyone else should have created a non profit organisation that protects all bitcoin related things.

Or better, we, as a community, should do such a thing. Every bitcoin/wallet user could pay 0.1 bitcoin and with
this money we can protect everything there is, names, images, protocol and also file a worldwide patent.

But not for profit, just to protect.
legendary
Activity: 1022
Merit: 1001
LOL..by the time they get the trademark no-one will be mining it anymore.
legendary
Activity: 892
Merit: 1002
1 BTC =1 BTC
From 'Bitcoin' trademark request: http://esearch.oami.europa.eu/copla/trademark/data/010103646
Quote
Name: Tibanne Co. Ltd.

Why is that company name familiar?  Of course: the owners of MtGox.

He should not do all these things under one flag.
Claiming 'bitcoin' makes him and his other projects more vunerable.
legendary
Activity: 1764
Merit: 1015
Just because a company gets a trademark or patent, it doesn't necessarily mean it's worth anything. Anyone who trademarks Bitcoin and tries to prevent 'bitcoincharts.com' or 'spendbitcoins.com' from using it is going to quickly have their trademark made worthless by the courts.
Yes it will be the same situation with Twitter and Tweet. Twitter tried to trademark the keyword tweet even though it was a user created keyword. They tried to take it to court, and lost embarrassingly. Now all the tweet domains have skyrocketed  Cool.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10313566-2.html
hero member
Activity: 662
Merit: 500
Just because a company gets a trademark or patent, it doesn't necessarily mean it's worth anything. Anyone who trademarks Bitcoin and tries to prevent 'bitcoincharts.com' or 'spendbitcoins.com' from using it is going to quickly have their trademark made worthless by the courts.
sr. member
Activity: 321
Merit: 250
Firstbits: 1gyzhw
Someone needs to file an opposition:
Quote
The opposition fee amounts to €350 and has to be received in the Office within the opposition period (Art. 41 (3) CTMR).
http://oami.europa.eu/ows/rw/pages/QPLUS/forms/electronic/fileOpposition.en.do

I'm not paying 700 euro to prevent someone from filing a trademark, but I'd throw a few BTC in if someone else wants to do it.
newbie
Activity: 32
Merit: 0
From 'Bitcoin' trademark request: http://esearch.oami.europa.eu/copla/trademark/data/010103646
Quote
Name: Tibanne Co. Ltd.

Why is that company name familiar?  Of course: the owners of MtGox.

legendary
Activity: 1246
Merit: 1077
Um, no, you can't ban uses of any term in day-to-day use. That's like saying you aren't allowed to say "Microsoft" or "Wal-mart" because those are trademarked. Let them trademark it, it's just them wasting money.
full member
Activity: 182
Merit: 100
hero member
Activity: 483
Merit: 551
http://esearch.oami.europa.eu/copla/trademark/data/010050466

This is a trademark for a logo plus the term "bit coin". The deadline for objections will expire very soon! Note that the applicant can also use the term alone to proceed against someone. It does not need a logo at all to violate against this trademark, if it becomes valid.

http://esearch.oami.europa.eu/copla/trademark/data/010103646

This is a trademark for the term "bitcoin". Expiry time has not begun yet, because the application is still under examination by the office. But: It was already objected by the owner of the trademark above! Obviously he thinks the term bitcoin is violating his logo + term trademark. If the office agrees, this means that the above trademark can be used to ban all uses of the term Bitcoin.
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