Nexus One Name Irks Philip K. Dick's Estate 506
RevWaldo writes "According to the Wall Street Journal, the estate of Philip K. Dick says the name of Google's new smartphone infringes on the famous character name from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Isa Dick Hackett, a daughter of Mr. Dick, states Google has its 'Android system, and now they are naming a phone "Nexus One." It's not lost on the people who are somewhat familiar with this novel... Our legal team is dealing head-on with this.'"
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:5, Funny)
Longest first post evar?!
You type fast. Very fast. Too fast, perhaps. That makes me suspicious.
Can you look into this Voight-Kampff machine, please, and tell me only the good things about your mother?
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:5, Funny)
The flame that burns +1, Funny burns -1, Long.
And you have burned so very, very +1, Funny Bottles.
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:5, Funny)
Yep, here [mexned.nl] is a fine example of it
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:4, Funny)
"let me tell you about my mother..."
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:3, Funny)
These aren't the Droids you're looking for.
In this post I now copyright... (Score:5, Funny)
When Google brings out next generations of its phone, I'll sue them and become rich!
You gotta think ahead.
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:5, Funny)
Well, you're wrong. I'm never buying or reading the book now. It can't be anywhere near as good as the phone.
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:5, Funny)
Even Motorola had the wherewithal to kindly ask Lucas before using Droid as a name for their phone because 'droid' is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd.
The clue is in the part of your own post starting "because" - even then, its debatable as to whether that trademark would apply to anything other than plush R2D2 toys.
Google applied for a trademark on "NEXUS ONE" [uspto.gov].
Yup - "Nexus 1". Not "Nexus 6". Its a dictionary word and a number. I Googled for "Nexus" and get the Tyne and Wear public transportation system, a Christian music school, a dating agency, a production company and a sponsored link to Amazon leading to a whole bunch of rather pornographic looking novels. No Dick (at least of the Philip K variety).
Now, if Google had jumped straight to "Nexus 6", launched an ad campaign featuring Rutger Hauer, and offered a free lead codpiece or a $100 mail-in rebate on a genuine goat, there might have been a case.
(Push your eyeballs out through your ears? There's an App for that!)
Where do you suppose it should stop? Should Red Hat need Paramount's permission for "Red Hat Enterprise Linux" - or Nokia for the "Nokia Communicator"? Is "Heroes" ripping off Neal Stevenson by having a character punnily named "Hiro"?
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:4, Funny)
The Chinese will probably translate "Nexus" to mean "connection point" and then mangle that to "post" in the sense of a post in a fence; "one" will then be translated as "first".
So yeah, look for the First Post phone to come out in about six months.
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Fascinating moderation (Score:3, Funny)
Coastguard.
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:4, Funny)
My wife posts on slashdot now? Damn!
Re:In this post I now copyright... (Score:3, Funny)
Everybody knows that the Nexus series will only take off with nexus-6 which will be virtually indistinguishable from an iPhone and contain DRM!
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:2, Funny)
"Google Beats Dick" has a nice sound to it, namely that of a million slashdotters fapping.
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:3, Funny)
Don't bother suing me, I've got nothing.
Re:In related news... (Score:4, Funny)
Asimov left a widow. And when the fifth generation of Asimo (Asimo V) comes out, will she have a case?
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:3, Funny)
Re:In this post I now copyright... (Score:3, Funny)
I'm now copyrighting NEXUS TWO, NEXUS THREE and NEXUS FOUR by using these in my post.
You idiot. Google of course sticks to the One True Versioning Scheme: the Naked Gun [wikipedia.org] versioning scheme. The next version will be the:
Google Nexus 2 1/2
Google Nexus 33 1/3
Re:I Actually Side with Dick's Estate (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, I think "Google rips off Dick heirs" works even better.
Re:Estate (Score:2, Funny)
Allowing heirs to sit on this "property" indefinitely does not surve this purpose.
Then it's a good thing that copyright isn't indefinite then, isn't it? You might not like the length of time copyright runs, but that doesn't change the fact that there is, indeed, a time limit to it.
Planned Obselenscence (Score:5, Funny)
You won't even be allowed to possess the sixth version of this Nexus phone on the planet Earth. It will only be for use in the off-world colonies.
Special Verizon squads have orders to destroy, upon detection, any Nexus Six phone. This is called "retirement," and is not covered under warranty.
Re:I'm with Google on this (Score:3, Funny)
The "Recycle Bin" was a more "PC" term.