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don't ever say ";-)" again

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 8:11 pm
by Dr. Sticks
http://www.theage.com.au/news/technolog ... 88693.html

Russian trademarks winking emoticon

How much would you pay for a ;-)? A Russian businessman has trademarked the emoticon - or combination of punctuation marks - used to convey a wink in text messages and email.

Oleg Teterin, president of the mobile ad company Superfone, said Thursday he doesn't plan on tracking down individual users following the decision by the federal patent agency.

"I want to highlight that this is only directed at corporations, companies that are trying to make a profit without the permission of the trademark holder," he said in comments to NTV.

Companies will be sent legal warnings if they use the symbol without his permission, he said.

"Legal use will be possible after buying an annual licence from us," he was quoted by Kommersant as saying. "It won't cost that much - tens of thousands of dollars."

He also said since other similar emoticons - :-) or ;) or :) - resemble the one he has trademarked, use of those symbols could also fall under his ownership.

Other Russian internet entrepreneurs reacted to the effort predictably - >:(

"Imagine the next wise-guy who trademarks the 33 letters of the Russian alphabet and then says anyone who uses the Russian alphabet has to send him money. It's absurd," Alexander Manis, the director of a broadband internet and mobile company, told NTV.

Maksim Mashkov, owner of an internet cafe and bookstore, said he doubted the trademark's legal basis since the symbol has existed in the public domain for years.

Indeed, Russia media said Teterin wasn't the first to try to trademark the symbol in Russia. Kommersant said a St. Petersburg court in 2005 agreed with an appeal from the German corporation Siemens, which was sued by a Russian man claiming he held the trademark.

Scott Fahlman, a professor at the Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, claims that he was the first to use three keystrokes - a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis - as a horizontal "smiley face" in a computer message 25 years ago.

AP

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:17 pm
by TyVulpine
But that'd only be enforcable in Russia, where it was trademarked. ;-)

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:56 pm
by Steve the Pocket
*promptly files for trademarks on "LOL" and "ZOMG"*

*retroactively sues LOLCATS and Gaia Online*

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 5:56 am
by osprey
;-)

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 4:43 pm
by Angstwolf
;) is the only one that matters anyway. Who needs noses?

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 6:36 pm
by Gecko
Wow. Now this is some epic nonsense.

Trademarking a smiley... oh goodness...

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 5:02 pm
by Bocaj Claw
We must move quickly and decisively to trademark the :D smiley before anybody else does. The very fate of the internet rests in the balance for some reason!

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:22 am
by MuffinSticks
I'm gonna trademark the principle of a repetitive beat, and use it to run every rapper out of business.

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 7:46 am
by Muninn
I'm gonna trademark the principle of a repetitive beat, and use it to run every rapper out of business.
Techno Viking will break every bone in your body.

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 3:54 pm
by LewisTheTank
I'm gonna trademark the principle of a repetitive beat, and use it to run every rapper out of business.
Techno Viking will break every bone in your body.
WITH a repetitive beat!
:shock:

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:38 pm
by MuffinSticks
I'm gonna trademark the principle of a repetitive beat, and use it to run every rapper out of business.
Techno Viking will break every bone in your body.
WITH a repetitive beat!
:shock:
Communists are invincible. I will get a horde of untrustworthy looking fellows to jump on Techno Viking and stab him to death.

Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 5:18 pm
by Jakkal
it's only working in Russia... you can use them. "Communists are invincible." perhaps.... but show me a working communism system and I will show you god! ;)
Besides... Russia is more capitalistic than ever...

Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 8:21 am
by MuffinSticks
haha beets.

Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 2:54 pm
by Dr. Dos
Dibs on 8==D

Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 6:20 pm
by osprey
Dibs on 8==D
PFFFFT dos. You at least want 8========D.

Come on man. Think big.