OMG: Russia entrepreneur looks for $$$ from ;-)

[Lezard]

OMG: Russia entrepreneur looks for $$$ from ;-)

Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 1:11pm EST (AP)

MOSCOW

How much would you pay for a ;-)? A Russian businessman has trademarked the emoticon _ or combination of punctuation marks _ used to convey a wink in text messages and e-mail.

Oleg Teterin, president of the mobile ad company Superfone, said Thursday he doesn't plan on tracking down individual users following the decision by the federal patent agency.

"I want to highlight that this is only directed at corporations, companies that are trying to make a profit without the permission of the trademark holder," he said in comments to NTV.

Companies will be sent legal warnings if they use the symbol without his permission, he said.

"Legal use will be possible after buying an annual license from us," he was quoted by Kommersant as saying. "It won't cost that much _ tens of thousands of dollars."

He also said since other similar emoticons _ :-) or ;) or :) _ resemble the one he has trademarked, use of those symbols could also fall under his ownership.

Other Russian Internet entrepreneurs reacted to the effort predictably _ >:(

"Imagine the next wise-guy who trademarks the 33 letters of the Russian alphabet and then says anyone who uses the Russian alphabet has to send him money. It's absurd," Alexander Manis, the director of a broadband internet and mobile company, told NTV.

Maksim Mashkov, owner of an Internet cafe and bookstore, said he doubted the trademark's legal basis since the symbol has existed in the public domain for years.

Indeed, Russia media said Teterin wasn't the first to try to trademark the symbol in Russia. Kommersant said a St. Petersburg court in 2005 agreed with an appeal from the German corporation Siemens, which was sued by a Russian man claiming he held the trademark.

Scott Fahlman, a professor at the Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, claims that he was the first to use three keystrokes _ a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis _ as a horizontal "smiley face" in a computer message 25 years ago.

[(Spork)]

why is this in the BPN

[leph555]

why haven't we thought of this before ?

[primexx]

why haven't we thought of this before ?

because, like the article said, it's absurd and no court will enforce it for him.

by the way, I'm starting a company called ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-), anyone wana buy my awesome product of ;-) and :-)?

[LightIdea]

;-)

[Astra.Xtreme]

;-) sue me

[Snowl]

;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-)

;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-)

;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-)

;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-)

;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-)

;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-)

;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-)

;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-) ;-) :-)

Oh ****, im bankrupt now. :-(

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Is it just me or is this thread page way off centre? It stretches to the right. Anyway, I bet someone will trademark "lol, rofl, lmao, and leet/1337".

[qdave]

some of you didn not uderstand the article. it is directed at companies and corporations.

wise guy that russian is:P he might earn a decend living from that :)

as for forum...did not break for me.

[spenser.d]

I think they understand it. It's still something to make fun of because, even restricted to companies and corporations, it's a ridiculous thing to try and trademark.

-Spenser

[bigmehdi]

WHERE IS THE SOURCE ?

No source for the article, might be just a joke .

[Rob2687]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...5GdInwD950NQ680

[Denis W. Veteran]

Is it just me or is this thread page way off centre? It stretches to the right. Anyway, I bet someone will trademark "lol, rofl, lmao, and leet/1337".

This page looks like a train wreck in Opera. Thanks Sethos :p

Oh, as for trademarking "leet," I doubt that. Didn't that word make it to the Oxford Dictionary?

[joeblogg]

i really doubt someone will trademark 1337. that would be horrible.

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[Echilon]

Trademarking is free, right? How can you make money from something you stole for free?