Category: Uncategorized

Olympics Committee Forces Oregon Restaurant To Change Its Name

In just six years, Portland, Oregon’s Olympic Provisions has gone from a small restaurant with an attached charcuterie facility to a major brand complete with Portlandia immortality and an upcoming cookbook. And now it has to change its name, thanks to a cease-and-desist notice from the International Olympic Committee, the organization that coordinates the Olympic Games. OP co-founder/meat-maker Elias Cairo says OP’s two restaurants (one of which has been a longtime member of the Eater Portland 38) and meat department will soon re-brand into Olympia Provisions, bypassing the trademark dispute by altering one letter.

The former Olympic Provisions says it was caught up in the IOC’s periodic “random sweeps” — which sounds an awful lot like the sort of behavior one district court memorably called out when dealing with a trademark bully.

The owner of a mark is not required to constantly monitor every nook and cranny of the entire nation and to fire both barrels of his shotgun instantly upon spotting a possible infringer.

But that is very much the way of the IOC, and it monitors every nook and cranny of the entire world with its fingers on the trigger. The cease-and-desist it sent to the former Olympic Provisions was so overwrought that the owners first thought it was a joke. But a discussion with its lawyers made it clear it wasn’t. The IOC’s tactics would be laughable if only they weren’t so often successful and damaging to the businesses on the receiving end.

“We start looking around at everything we’ve branded, from packaging to restaurants to delivery trucks,” Cairo says of the costs to change OP’s name. “To put a dollar figure on it would be impossible.”

The IOC doesn’t care about the source of the business names it finds infringing. It will make exceptions for businesses located around geographic features that already carry the name “Olympic,” pretty much limiting US use of the term to the Washington area. And the local arm of the IOC — the United States Olympic Committee — will step in if the marketed goods bearing an Olympic brand are sold outside of that region.

Link (Techdirt)

 

It turns out the Village People recorded a punk song in 1981

I came across this punk rock masterpiece on one of my very favorite blogs, Dangerous Minds.

Now, look, I’m going to warn you: it’s the longest 2:27 of your life, and the video is sort of the ancient progenitor to a looping .gif, likely due to budget constraints, and the possibility that the band involved wasn’t particularly into recording a punk song because the band was THE VILLAGE PEOPLE.

Yes, those Village People.

BEHOLD:

Link (Wil Wheaton)

Blind Ferret on Income Inequality

In 1955, the minimum wage was $0.75; today it’s $7.25. Looking at it, one would say it’s been increased significantly in 60 years. However, if you apply inflation and understand what those dollars will get you (the buying power mentioned above), you would see that those 2 amounts are almost identical.

Ergo, minimum wage has not been raised in 60 years.

To make things worse, with cost of living increases taking into account, the same wage gets you far less than it did in the ‘50s.

That house? Those 2 cars? Not going to happen. That mountain of debt most likely will though, beginning as soon as you decide to get an education.

The obvious solution to this problem? Raising the minimum wage, and renaming it to ‘Living Wage’. A living wage should allow an employee working 40 hours a week to live relatively comfortably.

Opponents of raising the minimum wage claim it would cost businesses too much money, causing them to lay off employees or worse, go bankrupt. These are lies.

Do your own research, pick 10 corporations that you know of and look at their profits for the last 5 years. After you’ve done, see how many employees they have and approximately what it would cost to raise the minimum a few dollars. Which number is greater?

They can afford it, they choose not to.

Link (Least I Could Do)

Hey, CNN: Cowardice is Not Tolerance – Nous Sommes Charlie

The first issue published by Charlie Hebdo after a dozen staff members were assassinated is out. Instead of the typical print run of 50,000, they printed (and sold) three million copies.

Newsworthy? Of course.

Was the cover apologetic, conciliatory, or “balanced”? Hell, no.

Newsworthy? Of course.

But when CNN reported that the magazine had resumed publishing, it was unwilling to show the cover. The cover breaks no American laws, is not “obscene,” and features neither nudity nor violence nor libel.

So why the CNN blackout of this historic event? An anchorwoman explained: “It is our policy not to show potentially offensive images of the prophet.”

Read that again: “potentially offensive.”

CNN refuses to say why they have institutionalized this self-censorship. They’re suggesting it’s because they care about the sensitivities of those who would be upset. It’s especially interesting, given that most of those upset people aren’t even in their audience.

Link (The Legal Satyricon)

Common Risks in America: Cars and Guns (not in that order)

Guns and cars have long been among the leading causes of non-medical deaths in the U.S. By 2015, firearm fatalities will probably exceed traffic fatalities for the first time, based on data compiled by Bloomberg.

While motor-vehicle deaths dropped 22 percent from 2005 to 2010, gun fatalities are rising again after a low point in 2000, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Shooting deaths in 2015 will probably rise to almost 33,000, and those related to autos will decline to about 32,000, based on the 10-year average trend.

Link (Bruce Schneier)

Je Suis Charlie attempted trademarked

An, er, enterprising individual has attempted to register the phrase “Je Suis Charlie” as a trademark in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

The Benelux Trademarks Office told El Reg on Tuesday that it had received an application in Dutch to register the slogan just one day after the staff of Charlie Hebdo were murdered in an extremist attack last Wednesday.

Je Suis Charlie was quickly picked up globally as a cry of solidarity in defence of freedom of expression.

Many have been quick to condemn the attempt to cash in on the atrocity, although this is not the first such attempt, as T-shirts bearing the slogan were for sale in Paris just days afterwards.

Belgian resident Yanick Uytterhaegen’s trademark application covers multiple products including laundry and cleaning products, printed matter, clothing, footwear, toys, decorations for Christmas trees, fruit juices, and even beer.

Link (The Register)

UK Bill: Nursery Staff Must Let Us Know When Toddlers Are At Risk For Becoming Terrorists

The directive is contained in a 39-page consultation document issued by the Home Office in a bid to bolster its Prevent anti-terrorism plan. The document accompanies the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, currently before parliament. It identifies nurseries and early years childcare providers, along with schools and universities, as having a duty “to prevent people being drawn into terrorism”.

The consultation paper adds: “Senior management and governors should make sure that staff have training that gives them the knowledge and confidence to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and challenge extremist ideas which can be used to legitimise terrorism and are shared by terrorist groups.

Link (Techdirt)

Canadian Anti-Piracy Company (Canipre) Caught Using Unattributed And Paywalled Articles To Fill Its Blog

Canipre, one of Canada’s foremost anti-piracy enforcers, has a bit of a problem on its hands. Like others that zealously guard against piracy, the company expects everyone else to fully respect the IP rights of the entities it acts for. And like others in the same field, it seemingly can’t be bothered to make sure it properly respects other entities’ IP rights.

Link (Techdirt)

I find this deeply offensive

So we just had a story about a 19-year-old guy being arrested for making a (bad) joke tweet about an out of control garbage truck. The Northumbria police who arrested Ross Loraine are insisting that the bad joke was a “malicious communication” under The Communications Act. Many people have been calling out this rather ridiculous attack on free speech, but police in Scotland seem to be doubling down. They just sent out the following tweet:

View post on imgur.com

Link (Techdirt)