Fandom: Oh, Hugo, Where Have HuGone Vol. 2: Trademark Edition

[escritoireazul]

Y'all, I have seen actual legal arguments about trademark violations from actual attorneys (though not IP attorneys) that weren't written and cited as well as synecdochic's post, goddamn.

they really should have known the one thing we know is how to bring receipts aka Trademark Law Lies and the Dudes Who Perpetuate Them.

Comments

[havocthecat]

I mean, I'm not an attorney, but a paralegal, and I just see legal work every day, and I was fucking IMPRESSED. GODDAMN.

Also it was done ON MOBILE.

[kore]

But no, you don't understand! She made a typo! She is just a girl Not a Lawyer, like That Will Guy!

//EYEROOOOOOOOOOOOOLL

[kore]

BUT HER EMAILS TYPO

I honestly think he never intended to put that through, because he knows (how can you not know?) how thoroughly that blows Standlee & Co. out of the water.

[havocthecat]

Do you know how many fucking lawyers I've seen make hugeass mistakes? HUGE. ASS. MISTAKES!

People who get paid shittons of money to not make typos also make them. I'M JUST SAYING. A fucking typo is no big deal. That's why we have proofreaders and oh yeah also we blow shit off that's not a big deal.

[princessofgeeks]

Yup.

[kore]

He didn't even point out the typo at first as a real reason! It was so infuriating.

[escritoireazul]

No lie, I once flipped Licensor and Licensee in a sentence. That was fucking embarrassing.

[escritoireazul]

Right? I was pretty neutral toward the site and found it useful sometimes, but he's burned any potential future goodwill. I'm going to recommend people avoid the site from now on.

[havocthecat]

Oh, I've done that, back in my commercial leasing days! Now that I'm in my corporate paralegal days, I make completely different utterly embarrassing mistakes.

[escritoireazul]

Oh, man, this made me think about that lawyer who posted the essay on AO3 about trademark law and then said he wouldn't answer some of the questions unless he was paid. My dude, if clients are paying you for the quality of legal analysis you did here, they are being screwed and should complain to your state bar.

[escritoireazul]

So glad I'm not the only one with that mistake!

[escritoireazul]

I agree with your theory on why he wouldn't put it through. Which is such a bullshit reason.

[kore]

OMFG, I was tempted to ask if he was scrounging for work, but I restrained myself. Because nothing says Actual Legal Expert With a Dick like posting an unsolicited rant, pretending it's case law or something, and refusing to answer questions about it because "it depends" (people were giving you hypotheticals) and "not without getting paid"! I would have been embarrassed for him if he hadn't been so hell bent on stirring the wankpot.

[kore]

Yeah, I didn't even lurk -- I checked it occasionally mostly when people linked to it during scifi discussions -- but I read through a whole lot (not all!) of the comments there and I just think everyone, HIM INCLUDED, needs to apologize for getting out of hand and take a break.

[kore]

I remain BAFFLED that Standlee did not put out some kind of official notice from his department that went something like, "Congratulations to AO3 on the Hugo win! Thank you to (whoever) for donating the Hugo award itself so even more fans can appreciate it. But please don't make any bootleg pins infringing on the Hugo trademark and sell them." I mean this is Customer Service 101. You don't tell people not to do things, you make it seem like a favor they are giving you, and it makes them feel all expansive and willing. Then again Standlee has probably never had to try to talk down a self-righteous older white dude who thinks he is Owed Things and is Angry he is not being properly catered to, because he is one.

I mean I looked around on the internet and people have been making bootleg rocket pins, pins that say "Hugo Award", rocket pins that say "Hugo Award," for quite a while, on and off....I guess the idea is if you go to the con you can wear your shiny official pin and people will Know you are/were a Nominee? WTF? I didn't even know nominees got fucking pins until this blew up. They don't even SAY "Hugo Award Nominee" on them. They're literally just tiny rockets and look like you could buy them in bulk for like $5 apiece. The pins didn't even start until like the early or mid nineties! Apparently they were first made by some fans?! arldasgflhgljasdflkj kl why am I even looking this shit up....I keep saying to T this whole thing reminds me of the joke about the status wars in academia being so vicious because the stakes are so low. Gahhh.

[kore]

I like the one about the truck drivers? who got paid extra because the lack of an Oxford comma in the contract made it seem like they were doing work that wasn't part of their agreed on job duties.

[kore]

....why, why am I ranting about pins

they've driven me to pinstraction

[escritoireazul]

Oxford commas in legal contract writing is a huge debate among lawyers, too, despite situations like this. I am always pro Oxford commas for clarity purposes, so it carried over into my legal writing. If you're not going to use them, though, make sure you don't use them consistently, contract drafters!

[escritoireazul]

HA YES THAT. I couldn't even be embarrassed for him, either, especially because I know so many straight white male lawyers like him. God, this field. THIS FIELD.

[escritoireazul]

they've driven me to pinstraction

oh my god dying now

[escritoireazul]

Yeaaaaaaaaaaah.

[escritoireazul]

I just read your posts and the comments there, and they were all very interesting.

[kore]

I just spent actual time on the site of "2wackypinguys" trying to figure out if they had licenses for their (huge quantities of) merch (which include several Hugo rocket pins)

TWO WILD AND WACKY PIN GUYS //SNL

[princessofgeeks]

We aim to please. There is always an empty recliner and the popcorn is always fresh.

[snacky]

Thank you for linking to that. I've been quietly fuming for days, and that post was exactly what I needed.

[escritoireazul]

I'm glad! It made me feel a lot better about everything.