Sound Trademarks
Seen on the tubes - found this page fascinating. Dealing mostly with visual trademarks and their applications to logos, I have to admit that this never really occured to me - you can actually trademark a particular sound. The page linked above features a whole mess of trademarked .mp3 files with the details of the registration. Did you know, for example, that Twentieth Century Fox owns a trademark for Homer Simpson’s infamous “D’OH”? I certainly didn’t. I also found the USPTO’s advice to kids about copyright and piracy quite amusing -
Can you tell what’s wrong?
Your friends found a really cool website where you can download the latest movies for free.
Your cousin asks to borrow your music CD so he can “burn” a copy.
Your mom gave you a printer that can print out iron-on transfers and you want to make a bunch of T-shirts with a famous cartoon character or movie star screaming your name.
You need to do a report for school and you found one on-line that’s exactly what you were planning to write.
Your dad bought you an MP3 player, so you e-mail your friends and swap the latest music.
You hook up a VCR to your DVD player and make copies of your movie collections as gifts for your pals.
You and your friends decide to share the cost of one copy of a software package and install it on all everyone’s laptops so you can all save money.
You sneak a video camera or digital recorder into a concert or movie and record it so you can share it with your buddies or on your website.
You capture pictures from TV shows and post them on your website along with soundbytes that make you laugh.
You buy a fake pair of designer shoes from a street vendor - they look like the real thing and cost only a few dollars.
Get ‘em while they’re young I guess..
