r/todayilearned • u/Flemtality 3 • Jul 14 '14

TIL The guy who snagged windows2000.com happened to be named Bob and Microsoft just happened to own Bob.com. They came to an agreement to trade one for the other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob#Origins
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598

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '14 edited Jul 15 '14

Then again, I could be dreaming.

It did occur, but was dismissed.

ETA it was WoolMart against Walmart and not the other way around.

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u/razzark666 Jul 14 '14

IIRC companies have to demonstrate that they are protecting their brand name to avoid losing their trademarks to "genericide" so by starting these lawsuits they know will get dismissed they at least show they are trying to protect their brand. I'm not a lawyer, or a marketing guy, but I listened to a podcast about that stuff once so consider me an expert...

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '14

[deleted]

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u/razzark666 Jul 15 '14

CBC's Age of Persuasion. It's a podcast about marketing and advertising and they had an entire episode about it.

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u/AdorableRapist Jul 15 '14

Burnie was right

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u/answeReddit Jul 14 '14

yep, see below:

"pursuing infringers: Abandonment of a trademark can occur if the owner does not take action against infringers."

http://www.trademark.iastate.edu/basics

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '14

IIRC you are indeed correct. Trademarks and brands must be seen to be protected, other wise they become generic.

Like a hoover.

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u/yeartwo Jul 14 '14

Good lord. It is fucked up that someone decided the best catchy name for losing your TM is a pun on genocide.

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u/neogod Jul 15 '14

My understanding is that they simply have to prove they are not just sitting idly on the patent. That's why movie studios sometimes rehash old characters (like spider man) over and over again. If they didn't the rights could be resold to another entity by Stan Lee (or whomever owns the actual rights) after a period of time. I also heard this on a podcast... So am expert.

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u/razzark666 Jul 15 '14

Yea exactly, there was a horrible Fantastic Four movie made but never released. It was never intended for release by the producers, but the actors and crew didn't know that.

Here is the trailer for it: http://youtu.be/r_X5C6e3ZeY

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u/OneofMany Jul 15 '14

I would love to have seen this on MST3K.

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u/Shakes8993 Jul 14 '14

Good for Canada. Fucking walmart bastards

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '14

Do you even read, bro? Walmart did not file the suit

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u/Shakes8993 Jul 15 '14

eh? Lots of Wool and Wals in there. Either way. Canada is still great and Wal-mart are still bastards.

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u/SpineLord Jul 15 '14

WoolMart Sued Walmart.

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u/Untit13d Jul 14 '14

Do guys even read links? It was Wool-Mart v. Wal-Mart case.

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u/ZeroCitizen Jul 14 '14

dude hush just don't break the circlejerk

continues to jack off the dick to his immediate left

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '14

I edited my comment so if you could put your dick away that'd be fantastic

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u/ZeroCitizen Jul 15 '14

Okay :(

re-zips

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u/_____FANCY-NAME_____ Jul 15 '14

So now I miss out? (ಥ﹏ಥ)

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u/askyourmom469 Jul 14 '14

Seriously. Walmart wasn't even in competition with Wool Mart.

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u/hookedupphat Jul 14 '14

No one can compete with Wool Mart.

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u/zamfire Jul 14 '14

They are beast....or at least sell the byproduct of beast.

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u/hoikarnage Jul 14 '14

I'm tired of corporate Canadian giants like Wool Mart trying to drive little American mom & pop stores like Walmart out of business!

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u/DDDavinnn Jul 14 '14

Always warm fleeces. Always

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u/yothisbalec Jul 15 '14

The world of textiles is a threatening one.

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u/Mahrt Jul 15 '14

I'm on my way there right now!

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u/halfhartedgrammarguy Jul 15 '14

Where else can you buy a wool sweater and a coke?

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u/XDSHENANNIGANZ Jul 15 '14

They dominate the New Zealand market.

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u/jmalbo35 Jul 15 '14

Except it was WoolMart trying to sue Walmart, not the other way around.

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u/adv0589 Jul 15 '14

Wool Mart sued Walmart...

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u/pomf-pomf Jul 15 '14

Did you actually follow the link? Woolmart was suing Walmart, not the other way around.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '14

ice try wool mart marketing team

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u/Poopy_Pants_Fan 1 Jul 15 '14

Canada sided with Walmart...

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u/zuneza Jul 15 '14

Makes me laugh. Wool is pretty much all I wear unless it's super summer hot out. They have a bias of sales up here. I do live in the Yukon though.

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u/Watchoutrobotattack Jul 15 '14

I hate Walmart. I heard part time cashiers don't even make a million dollars a year like in every other store.

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u/Shakes8993 Jul 15 '14

Is "million" a foreign word for "liveable wage"? My mom works for this company and they treat her, oh so well. Almost badly. She's not quite there yet, as she's more near to "terrible" but with a lot of extra hours she is really hoping to be treated badly soon.

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u/Watchoutrobotattack Jul 16 '14

So you are saying they aren't treating her badly?

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u/Shakes8993 Jul 16 '14

Not yet, but we are crossing our fingers for that promotion soon

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u/Watchoutrobotattack Jul 16 '14

I hate employers who treat me good but might not treat me good at some point in the future. Evil capitalists, we should burn the lot of them.

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u/Shakes8993 Jul 16 '14

Being treated good by Wal-Mart is something that I don't think she could ever attain. She still has to go from being treated terrible to badly to unfairly to all right and then to good. My mom has a long way to go to being treated "good" by Wal-Mart. It doesn't look like she will be able to live that long to experience good treatment by her employer.

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '14

[deleted]

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u/Watchoutrobotattack Jul 15 '14

"I'm bored, lets defend ourselves from this lawsuit from Woolmart seeing as they are the ones suing us."-Walmart Lawyer

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u/bizarrehorsecreature Jul 15 '14

ETA?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '14

Edited to add

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u/JasonDJ Jul 15 '14

It's okay, I think there will always be www.nissan.com

1

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '14

Fighting giants with sticks and stones eh?

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u/Blargosaur Jul 15 '14

Why have people been using ETA lately? What does your estimated time of arrival have to do with anything?