Monday, February 09, 2004
Google Slaps Booble
Booble - you can't say it without smiling. Google don't find them funny and have slapped a cease and desist order on them.
Booble is an adult search engine. Google is a general purpose search engine. Booble says it is a parody, Google says it is a trademark infringement and copying. Amusing to most, annoying to Google, money-making for the lawyers, but it raises some bigger questions about what is copying, what is trademarkable, what is parody and so on. Big ethics raises its head once again - where next? Consider the Mike Rowe case, where Microsoft took objection to a domain name. I quite liked that, and I think the settlement where the kid gets an XBox and other goodies is just great. Mind you, asking for a Playstation would have been cooler.
Booble - you can't say it without smiling. Google don't find them funny and have slapped a cease and desist order on them.
Booble is an adult search engine. Google is a general purpose search engine. Booble says it is a parody, Google says it is a trademark infringement and copying. Amusing to most, annoying to Google, money-making for the lawyers, but it raises some bigger questions about what is copying, what is trademarkable, what is parody and so on. Big ethics raises its head once again - where next? Consider the Mike Rowe case, where Microsoft took objection to a domain name. I quite liked that, and I think the settlement where the kid gets an XBox and other goodies is just great. Mind you, asking for a Playstation would have been cooler.
(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
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