Ah but the corporate tendency to conflate Trademarks and Copyright is a bit of a bum go, innit?
Trademarks are supposed to be "as long as you defend them." While copyright is SUPPOSED to be finite.
Which further muddies the waters when you realize that corporate copyrights last longer than private copyrights.
Private individual A has a copyright on "Art Novel." Corporation B has the copyright to "Crap Novel" due to work-for-hire.
Art Novel's copyright expires close to 90 years after publication or death of A plus X years, depending on WHEN Art Novel was written.
Crap Novel has 120 years of copyright, unless Corporation B has ruthlessly Trademarked the whole thing.
So, Crap Novel™ is effectively "Neener neener, can't have it!"
I may have the term lengths wrong, but they are still ridiculously long. I seem to recall a mention that Bono wanted it to be FOREVER but that was declared unconstitutional. With an immediate rejoinder by then-RIAA head of "How about forever less one day?"
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Trademarks are supposed to be "as long as you defend them." While copyright is SUPPOSED to be finite.
Which further muddies the waters when you realize that corporate copyrights last longer than private copyrights.
Private individual A has a copyright on "Art Novel." Corporation B has the copyright to "Crap Novel" due to work-for-hire.
Art Novel's copyright expires close to 90 years after publication or death of A plus X years, depending on WHEN Art Novel was written.
Crap Novel has 120 years of copyright, unless Corporation B has ruthlessly Trademarked the whole thing.
So, Crap Novel™ is effectively "Neener neener, can't have it!"
I may have the term lengths wrong, but they are still ridiculously long. I seem to recall a mention that Bono wanted it to be FOREVER but that was declared unconstitutional. With an immediate rejoinder by then-RIAA head of "How about forever less one day?"
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll