Posted on 06/13/2016 6:47:10 PM PDT by Daffynition
We all learned as children that we ought to mind our manners, but as AT&T learned this week, being polite can have some high costs.
Love may mean never having to say you’re sorry, but trademarks mean never having to say thank you. Unless, of course, you get Citigroup’s permission first, since it now technically owns the phrase.
While that situation may sound like something that should only occur in Bernie Sanders fan faction, the story is somewhat less dystopian than the headline. It’s less about the high costs of being polite and more about how a loyalty program is named.
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“This may come as a surprise to Citigroup, but the law does not allow one company to own the word ‘thanks,’” said spokesperson Fletcher Cook in an email. “We’re going to continue to say thanks to our customers.”
Why people hate lawyers. Reason 42: suing over frivolities.
So Citigroup owns the word “thanks?” That’s stupid.
I heard this on the Clark Howard show [radio] ...I think he mentioned that Citibank registered the words with the Library of Congress, to get the exclusivity.
It sure is!
Hey, Citigroup, Happy THANKSgiving!
LOL
“Because all integers and natural numbers derive from one and zero, Microsoft may, by extension, lay claim to ownership of all mathematics and logic systems, including
**Euclidean geometry, pulleys and levers, gravity, and the basic Newtonian principles of motion, as well as the concepts of existence and nonexistence,” Yale University theoretical mathematics professor J. Edmund Lattimore said. “In other words, pretty much everything.”
Lattimore said that the only mathematical constructs of which Microsoft may not be able to claim ownership are infinity and transcendental numbers like pi. Microsoft lawyers are expected to file liens on infinity and pi this week.**
Back in the heyday of the early home computer days, Zilog, maker of the Z-80 follow-up chip to the 8080, tried to trademark the letter ‘Z’ for anything having to do with computers.
They failed.
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