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TwiceHorn

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Everything posted by TwiceHorn

  1. This all dovetails with my earlier rant that trademark law has become unmoored from its foundations. Bucee's will probably "win" this via settlement, meaning Super Fuels will drop the logo. I rather severely doubt that anyone goes to Super Fuels thinking they're at Buc-ee's, "stolen logo" or not. Buc-ee's has never lost a sale to Super Fuels, due to confusion or any other reason, because Super Fuels is dozens of miles from the closest Buc-ee's.
  2. https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/buc-ees-suing-north-texas-gas-station-trademark-infringement/287-7c94f57c-d1f5-4157-a3bc-b324a3e0ebf0 I post this because it's kind of amusing and we seem to care about most things bucees and also as a PSA for potential trademark applicants. People seem to always think of trademarks as logos, that is, graphics apart from words. But they're wrong: trademarks are words, first, and logos only if they become basically famous. In the law, when comparing allegedly infringing marks, words are the first basis of comparison and if the words are dissimilar, the logo becomes irrelevant. "Words dominate" to use the legal phrase. If you file a trademark application for a logo without words, it's going to initially be rejected as "mere ornamentation" and you're going to have to prove that it has "acquired distinctiveness" or "secondary meaning," that is, become associated in the minds of consumers with your product(s) or service(s). The best way to do that is by showing many years of exclusive use and by advertising that features and preferably "points up" the logo (look for the Bucee's beaver) and a large advertising budget. If you are attempting a trademark application, I advise going words only if you can only afford one, or words only and words + logo if you have a deluxe budget, and logo only if you have money to burn and at least five years of use. The reason for this is that research shows that people remember words, Kodak, Coke, not logos, particularly when associated with a brand. The other thing I have observed over the years is that, for small-medium businesses, logos change. Trademark registrations have to be renewed at five years and then every ten years. I can't tell you how many times at the five-year renewal the original logo is no longer in use or being phased out. If you are really in love with your logo, it's probably a minor work of art and you can register a copyright in it. As to this lawsuit, like most TM litigation, it will probably settle and favorably to Bucee's because they will likely wallet-whip Super Fuels. But this might actually be one that could be resolved on summary judgment, which is rare in trademark cases. The logos have some similarities that result from the use of cartoon animals, but they're different animals and look pretty different other than the cartoonish eyes and brown fur. That Super Fuels uses nothing resembling "Bucee's" is likely dispositive, or should be. The one thing that could tilt this severely in Bucee's favor is if evidence develops that Super Fuels intended to mimic their logo. The law says something like "if it is proven that a second-user intended to free-ride on the trademark owner by imitating its mark, we will assume that the defendant succeeded." Whether that is legitimate in the sense of brand recognition, or just a cover for what seems to be innate dislike of copying is another matter.
  3. Plus, he denied it, duh! But that really is it in a microcosm. He denied it and the press basically left him alone on it. No, "but most of the authors are exclusively former or potential Trump administration officials. And your VP wrote the foreword. Are you going to make sure officials of your administration are as hostile to Project 2025 as you are?"
  4. "Craziness" is not inherent to the Middle East. The Bible documents, with varying accuracy, an early period of human history during which people were primitive. If we had similar works documenting contemporary civilizations elsewhere and with a bit of hyperbole thrown in, it would be similar. The Middle East, though, has remained more primitive than some other parts of the world. Religion may have played a role in that, but also the conditions, like sub-Saharan Africa.
  5. Considering the partisan political environment, they were monumental. And they're good for the country, broadly speaking. But, they're not going to deliver anything to the electorate in the short term. They'll be a distant memory by the time anything trickles down to the dumbshits.
  6. As observed by PJ ORourke 33 years ago.
  7. Thing is, what have Republicans ever delivered? Neither party has delivered effective or efficient government, or real help for the little guys. But the realistic Republican record is far worse. The truth is is that it begins and ends with messaging.
  8. I like the guy, or what I know of him, but that tux is just too damn small, and, it's made of velvet. That shit ain't right.
  9. True, re: Owens, but there is a California aqueduct, of more modern vintage than the LA Aqueduct, that connects NorCal water to SoCal. And, there might be a diplomatic problem if we really started suctioning water out of Canada. He's a fucking moron any way you slice it.
  10. See what happens when you get rid of civil servants in the DOJ? They should have used past tense in reference to the American Indians, but I think a more important aspect of that is that at the time of the 14th Amendment, Indian tribes were not subject to the jurisdiction of US courts or laws.
  11. Based on? Your birth certificate. And, again, place of birth becomes irrelevant under this analysis. Even us whiteys that get the papiere, bitte, are fucked like chuck if push comes to shove.
  12. Jesu Christo, dovetail this with current thinking on slavery.
  13. If we don't accept that a birth certificate showing birth in the US as proof of citizenship. hardly anyone except recently naturalized citizens has any proof of citizenship. Of course, for those of us with light enough complexions and speaking sufficiently 'murican English, that won't be a problem.
  14. Yes, and a birth certificate showing you were born in the US is a key component of that for those of us "natural born citizens." That document is no longer relevant under this rule and your Real ID ain't so real anymore. This is going to be colossally expensive, if nothing else.
  15. I suspect that to be true as well. However, it would seem to be readily achievable to train a system on just US patent documents and along with the existing classification system and bibliographic information achieve a pretty useful database and query system. It seems, though, that the current AI offerings more deal with finding related patents and families of patents and collating their prior art references than with actually locating a given piece of relevant prior art. An example of the lexicographer problem: We have a ton of Asian-originated US patents, which means they're translated from a pictographic language, which never goes well. I was reviewing a Chinese-originated patent that used the term "swallowtail" when referring to a "dovetail" structure. A translation issue that is an excellent example of the wild variation in language of patent specifications describing the same or similar structures. One major difference between the US and European Patent offices is that EPO divides responsibility for searching and examination, while US examiners do both. There's not much overlap in those skill sets. Under time pressure, examiners generate a fair amount of gibberish without AI and poor searches doesn't help that much. The worry at this point would be that pushing through the gibberish to get to the meat of the matter would extend patent pendency.
  16. Well, while he has oversimplified, Los Angeles has been pumping water from the Central Valley since the early 1900s. Check out William Mulholland. Central Valley farmers have been bitching about it for decades, which maybe indicates it's not so easy to get it from parts north. Regardless, there's no unlimited water anywhere. The most distressing thing about all of this is that Trump wants do disregard endangered species here and in many drilling situations. Also, the federal government has or should have almost no control over California's water, or any other state's. The hook here is preserving endangered species and their habitat. One argument you could make there is that we're all endangered species considering what we're doing to our own habitat. But that's not something they believe in.
  17. I can point out times when the US was among the least fucked-up places and wasn't leading the charge to a fucked-up place.
  18. Patent searching is where any benefit will be seen. The PTO has its own search databases and there are AI-driven search tools in the private sector. I'm not really sure how good or useful they are. They are quite expensive. Once AI searching has become more mainstream and proven, they'll probably adopt it for their search tools. I'm sure the PTO is concerned with examiners using "open AI" to formulate rejections and other patent legal correspondence. And that runs a huge risk of generating gibberish and the equivalent of seven-fingered humans and would be a disaster. And security of using commercial or free AI is a big concern. The difficulty with patents is that a "patentee can be his own lexicographer." The text descriptions of the same or similar structures or features varies tremendously across the spectrum. One of the best tools a patent examiner has is the ability to scan drawings once a search result is obtained/narrowed by text-based searching. I'm not sure how well adapted AI is to that.
  19. Another reminder that the adults are in charge.
  20. Another thing, the prospective nature (30 days from the date of the EO) of this is not going to fly on a constitutional interpretation thing. It either means what it currently means, or what they say it means. So it will be fully retroactive.
  21. Well, at least in theory, tariffs can drive manufacturing "back home" by making domestic goods price-competitive. And some industries, like metals and semiconductors, raise national security issues. Of course, doing that involves using carefully targeted tariffs. Like those against Chinese EVs.
  22. No idea what the law requires here in your jurisdiction, or what local practices are, but I suspect that he'll get a "shock" relatively short incarceration, followed by community supervision requiring a sober living for a more extended period.
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