So if I own a company, and my fans use putt putt as the title of let's play videos of a game my company makes, putt putt will sue me? That's the most ridiculous think I have ever heard of that any company did.
Despite appearances to the contrary, Putt-Putt's legal department is suers, not sewers.
All sewage jokes aside, they didn't threaten to sue over the Putt-Putt computer games because those were about cars, not golf. Trademarks are specific to an industry. For example, Mojang owns "Minecraft" for computer games, and probably various auxiliary things, too, like the little square creeper face pin I have on my hat. But if some company is selling, I dunno, shoring braces for hard rock mines, they could use the name "Minecraft" for them, and have a trademark on it, because it's a different industry. Nobody is going to think computer games and mining equipment are connected.
In this case, the people making and uploading those videos were using the Putt-Putt name in connection with miniature golf. Videos of virtual miniature golf courses, yes, but still golf. That's trademark infringement. Putt-Putt is entitled to exclusive use of the trademark "Putt-Putt" in relation to golf. So they rightfully decided they needed to do something about that.
The problem (or at least source for mockery) here is that they then wrongfully decided that the way to do so would be to threaten the company whose software was used to create the infringing videos. In a sense, it's like them suing the Lego company because someone made a mini golf course with Legos and posted video of it.
So if I own a company, and my fans use putt putt as the title of let's play videos of a game my company makes, putt putt will sue me? That's the most ridiculous think I have ever heard of that any company did.
Yes, it appears that they will. Or at least they'll threaten to. And they'll also send out threats to people who don't even work for your company, just because the games that are being used by the infringers run on their platform.
Sadly, it's not the most ridiculous thing I've heard of any company doing. Apropos of the current topic, back in the early days of the personal computer industry, Texas Instruments had a nice computer, the TI-99/4. It had a 16-bit CPU when everything else was 8-bit. It had kickass speech synthesis (this used to be a big thing). It could have owned the industry. Except that TI threatened to sue any company that wrote software that would run on it. IBM, on the other hand, built a kind of second-rate computer. The original IBM PC wasn't nearly as good a computer as the TI-99/4. But IBM said "here's the specs, everyone, start writing code!" So people did. This is why we're not playing Minecraft on TI-99/256 computers. As I said in another thread, companies are made up of people, and people can do some amazingly stupid things. Let us never forget Microsoft Bob! (as much as a lot of people, probably including Microsoft, would like to). Or the Star Wars Christmas special that even George Lucas would like to track down and burn every tape of.
I'm an evil person, and the thought crosses my mind that I should make a mini-golf course out of Legos, make a video of it, upload said video to YouTube, and wait to see them send C&D's to the Lego folks. I'd love to watch them walk into that meat-grinder. They'd be lucky if they came out of it owning a couple of golf balls and a bent tee.
They probably have a bot that seds out hundreds of these daily.
Doubtful. First, they're targeting companies (presumably companies they think have deep pockets) rather than individuals. For instance, they threatened Mojang, not the people who committed the actual trademark infringement. There aren't 26,000 companies a year (assuming 100 letters a day, and giving them weekends off) who they could come anywhere close to connecting to trademark infringement. Second, if there were 26,000 C&D letters going out per year, Notch wouldn't have been the first person to post one for the amusement (or mockery) of the Internet at large. Oh, a human initiated this all right ... either a very stupid or a very greedy human, but a human nonetheless.
Mojang: Hey!
Putt-Putt: What?
Mojang: None of those videos were made by us!
Putt-Putt: Yes they were!
Mojang: NO THEY WERE NOT. They were made by the public. Were any of the videos made by Mojang?
Putt-Putt: No...
Mojang: Point proven.
The people making these "Putt Putt" You Tube videos, especially if they are releasing maps of these miniature golf courses, might very well be infringing on the trademark of the "Putt Putt" organization that owns the trademark.
Mojang, however, isn't the one who created this map nor involved in any way with the infringment, and some due diligence on the part of the people at "Putt Putt, Inc." should have looked into who was doing that infringement.
A cease and desist order, while not a lawsuit, is a required and necessary step in the process of filing a lawsuit. It is also a legal threat, and can be acted upon as such. Threatening that legal action will happen in so many days has legal consequences even for making that kind of threat... especially if an informed lawyer who should know the law is making such a threat. Making a legal threat that is baseless and frivolous has legal consequences that can backfire, so you should be a whole lot more careful when you make those kind of threats.... knowing in advance that your claim actually has some sort of merit.
It is likely that Mojang will ignore these idiots, but it is now in their right if they care to go back and counter sue Putt Putt if they cared. At the very least, if Putt Putt does anything else other than sending this letter, Mojang owns their as(sets).
Thanks for the lawyer talk XD
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*IMPORTANT* If you or someone you know plays Minecraft, tell them to play more.
let me get this straight...Some one made a minecraft minigame and called it putt-putt then made the name putt putt a trade mark? then somthing about mojang using putt-putt some were? i'm really confused please someone clarify lol
No, it didn't work like that. Some person made a minecraft golf course called Putt Putt craft and then people put up walkthroughs on YouTube, Then Putt Putt wrote a letter to Mojang saying that they were making money off Putt Putt. Personally I think it kinda complicated too.
The company that did this didn't see it was a 3rd party modification, a mistake I can understand.
If you look at the titles of those videos on the twitter image, you will see that none say on the title that it is a mod or custom content made by users, not the company.
It mainly says along the lines of "Putt-putt craft Minecraft XBOX 360."
Minecraft for XBOX 360 = owned by mojang,
The golden age: it's not the game, it's you ⋆ Why Minecraft should not be harder ⋆ Spelling hints
Despite appearances to the contrary, Putt-Putt's legal department is suers, not sewers.
All sewage jokes aside, they didn't threaten to sue over the Putt-Putt computer games because those were about cars, not golf. Trademarks are specific to an industry. For example, Mojang owns "Minecraft" for computer games, and probably various auxiliary things, too, like the little square creeper face pin I have on my hat. But if some company is selling, I dunno, shoring braces for hard rock mines, they could use the name "Minecraft" for them, and have a trademark on it, because it's a different industry. Nobody is going to think computer games and mining equipment are connected.
In this case, the people making and uploading those videos were using the Putt-Putt name in connection with miniature golf. Videos of virtual miniature golf courses, yes, but still golf. That's trademark infringement. Putt-Putt is entitled to exclusive use of the trademark "Putt-Putt" in relation to golf. So they rightfully decided they needed to do something about that.
The problem (or at least source for mockery) here is that they then wrongfully decided that the way to do so would be to threaten the company whose software was used to create the infringing videos. In a sense, it's like them suing the Lego company because someone made a mini golf course with Legos and posted video of it.
Yes, it appears that they will. Or at least they'll threaten to. And they'll also send out threats to people who don't even work for your company, just because the games that are being used by the infringers run on their platform.
Sadly, it's not the most ridiculous thing I've heard of any company doing. Apropos of the current topic, back in the early days of the personal computer industry, Texas Instruments had a nice computer, the TI-99/4. It had a 16-bit CPU when everything else was 8-bit. It had kickass speech synthesis (this used to be a big thing). It could have owned the industry. Except that TI threatened to sue any company that wrote software that would run on it. IBM, on the other hand, built a kind of second-rate computer. The original IBM PC wasn't nearly as good a computer as the TI-99/4. But IBM said "here's the specs, everyone, start writing code!" So people did. This is why we're not playing Minecraft on TI-99/256 computers. As I said in another thread, companies are made up of people, and people can do some amazingly stupid things. Let us never forget Microsoft Bob! (as much as a lot of people, probably including Microsoft, would like to). Or the Star Wars Christmas special that even George Lucas would like to track down and burn every tape of.
I'm an evil person, and the thought crosses my mind that I should make a mini-golf course out of Legos, make a video of it, upload said video to YouTube, and wait to see them send C&D's to the Lego folks. I'd love to watch them walk into that meat-grinder. They'd be lucky if they came out of it owning a couple of golf balls and a bent tee.
The golden age: it's not the game, it's you ⋆ Why Minecraft should not be harder ⋆ Spelling hints
Very nice now
I put the rival in the rival rebels mod :D.
lol, People nowadays get sued over pretty much anything
Doubtful. First, they're targeting companies (presumably companies they think have deep pockets) rather than individuals. For instance, they threatened Mojang, not the people who committed the actual trademark infringement. There aren't 26,000 companies a year (assuming 100 letters a day, and giving them weekends off) who they could come anywhere close to connecting to trademark infringement. Second, if there were 26,000 C&D letters going out per year, Notch wouldn't have been the first person to post one for the amusement (or mockery) of the Internet at large. Oh, a human initiated this all right ... either a very stupid or a very greedy human, but a human nonetheless.
The golden age: it's not the game, it's you ⋆ Why Minecraft should not be harder ⋆ Spelling hints
Golfcraft???
: You can't blame us for being legit.
Get your dragon at Dragon Cave
I'm guessing like the cease-and-desist letters should be going the other direction.
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks.
Putt-Putt: What?
Mojang: None of those videos were made by us!
Putt-Putt: Yes they were!
Mojang: NO THEY WERE NOT. They were made by the public. Were any of the videos made by Mojang?
Putt-Putt: No...
Mojang: Point proven. Thanks for the lawyer talk XD
*IMPORTANT* If you or someone you know plays Minecraft, tell them to play more.
Your profiles avatar made that comment so much better.
Yep...definitely. Putt Putt failed so bad.
No, it didn't work like that. Some person made a minecraft golf course called Putt Putt craft and then people put up walkthroughs on YouTube, Then Putt Putt wrote a letter to Mojang saying that they were making money off Putt Putt. Personally I think it kinda complicated too.
If you look at the titles of those videos on the twitter image, you will see that none say on the title that it is a mod or custom content made by users, not the company.
It mainly says along the lines of "Putt-putt craft Minecraft XBOX 360."
Minecraft for XBOX 360 = owned by mojang,
Enderdragon Roar in the Overworld
Rollercoaster