Dell sues Mr Dell

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/20/dell_sues_dell_man/

 

Again!


A Nice Cup of Tea

 

He should sue them - for all the besmirching of the Dell name, his families
for hundreds of years, with shoddy computers and bombastic lawyering of
little people..

--

.... Brendan

#139697 +(4371)- [X]

<frank> can you help me install GTA3?
<knightmare> first, shut down all programs you aren't using
frank has quit IRC. (Quit)
<knightmare> ...


Note: All my comments are copyright 21/02/2006 5:28:47 p.m. and are opinion only where not otherwise stated and always "to the best of my recollection". www.computerman.orcon.net.nz.

 

That US corporation is suing some poor guy for every instance that this guy
uses his own name on his own web site. What stupidity!
I guess they'll next be going after everyone else with the surname Dell.
Looks like there are about 37 people in Auckland for them to pick on.
Maybe it looks like an attractive revenue stream for them.

I wonder if Dell thinks that this type of bullying behaviour makes people
more likely to buy computers off them.


Peter

 

Its not without precedent
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/01/19/offbeat.mike.rowe.soft.ap/
Some canadian kid (Mike Rowe) put up a site etc etc.
IIRC he ended up with a heap of Microsoft goodies, eg training, internships,
etc etc etc.

It has to be said similarly named sites are an issue, especially when it comes
to phishing and p0rn etc etc

 

An English shop did the same thing to a NZer a few years ago.


A Nice Cup of Tea

 

I thought that the Frogs were sufficiently nationalistic that they would
tell Dell in USA where to stick it.

 

Harrods? I don't recall a surname or family name being involved here.

Crash.

 

Come to think of it, it was The Blackball Hilton, down in Blackball on the
West Coast.

Now it's named "Formerly The Blackball Hilton", and the residents of
Blackball call it "The formerly".


A Nice Cup of Tea

 

Well I clearly recall it and the surname WAS Harrod. Mr Harrod was force
to change the name of his shop. This was despite non of his customers
being confused about whether he was affiliated with the UK shopping giant.


--
Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
See my pics at www.gigatech.co.nz (last updated 5-September-05)
"The person on the other side was a young woman. Very obviously a
young woman. There was no possible way she could have been mistaken
for a young man in any language, especially Braille."
Maskerade

 

As I recall the name wasn't Harrod, but something close in Wellington,
Harrap or Harrach or something. Didn't a South Island town change it's
name to Harrodsville a while back in protest? Every shop in the town
changed it's name to Harrods.

 

It was Harralds in Christchurch a fabric store in Papanui Rd IIRC
The Blackball Hilton also got a nastygram from the stupid spoilt whore's
family.

 

I stand corrected.


--
Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
See my pics at www.gigatech.co.nz (last updated 5-September-05)
"The person on the other side was a young woman. Very obviously a
young woman. There was no possible way she could have been mistaken
for a young man in any language, especially Braille."
Maskerade

 

It may have happened more than once. According this site it was Harrod's
restaurant in Hamilton.
http://willbryson.co.uk/nz/?Category=NZ5&style=cat-1col

"It seems that in the late eighties, a Mr Harrod from Hamilton was asked
by Harrods of London to rename his restaurant from Harrod's. In support
of the Kiwi Harrod, nearly every shop on Otorohanga high street changed
its name to Harrods: the Harrods baker, the Harrods newsagent, the
Harrods fashion store. One shop changed its name to Marks and Sparks, to
be in with the spirit of the thing. The town sign was changed to say,
Welcome to Harrodsville. According to the news clipping, the name of
Otorohanga 'became known world-over.'"

My understanding of NZ law is that you are allowed to trade under your
own name, even if you are in the same or similar business as someone
else. Otherwise the oldest business trading as Johns's {something to do
with cars} would be free to shut down John Dixon Motors, John Phillis
Automotive, John's Repairshop Ltd., John Street Motors 1997 Ltd., Johns
Rd Garage 1998 Ltd., John's Mechanical Services etc.

You are not allowed to mislead by making it appear you are related to
another business though, which I think is where some of these people get
into trouble. Adding a shop sign based on someone else's logo for
instance. Even though it's obvious the little corner shop is not part of
the Harrods chain, by adding the sign they're still trying to trade on
Harrod's reputation.

--
Roger Johnstone, Invercargill, New Zealand
http://roger.geek.nz/
________________________________________________________________________
No Silicon Heaven? Preposterous! Where would all the calculators go?

Kryten, from the Red Dwarf episode "The Last Day"

 

There are limits. You could probably not, for example, start "McDonald's
Family Restaurant" just because your name was McDonald. However, if you
were already trading under that name prior to 1976 (when the first
McDonald's store opened in NZ) you would have a claim to prior naming.
It's a very messy area of the law, and I don't think anyone's quite sure
what would happen if someone wanted to start a "McDonald's Family
Restaurant" just because their name was McDonald. The lawyers would
doubtless get very rich, and I can't see anyone willingly picking a fight
with one of the largest multinationals. "McDonald's Fish'n'Chips" or
"McDonald's Diner", however, are both clearly defined as legitimate if
your name is McDonald.

*SNIP*

A name is also only able to be trademarked for a particular type of
service. There is, as has been mentioned previously in this forum, a
septic tank cleaning service in Auckland that goes by the name McDonald's
Takeaways. I shit you not

 

LOL

 

However, they did really push the limits, their sign was VERY similar
in style, colour and font to the UK store. IIRC, they went after them
more for brach of trademark. rather than the name.

And for a while, many other shops (was it in Otorohonga??) put up
Harrods signs for a while.

 

That's because there already is a "McDonalds Family Restaurant" that sells
all sorts of chemicals dressed up as food.


A Nice Cup of Tea

 

Those of you that have visited Picton will know there is a "Kentucky"
Eataways in the main street.

Though the Kentucky Eataways is in the fast food business including
'Chicken' dishes the present and former owners will tell you they have never
been approached by the other 'Kentucky' to relinquish the Kentucky name.

The rationale given is a) it is patently obvious it is not a 'KFC' outlet,
b) it's existence predates the American franchinse by many years.

Cheers
Paul.