Friday, December 12, 2008

;-) имейте славный день. (Have a Nice Day.)

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 _ >:( "




My aside: A few random things in no particular order that I'd like to trademark in the blogosphere and other places...

I think I want to trademark putting periods after. every. word. to. emphasize. my. point. I think I want to trademark using "its" when you should be using "it's." I could make a mint off my posts alone. Its horrible how many times I read that... See look! I just mad 5 cents! The potential...

I think I also want to trademark the third finger. My royalty check from New Yorkers alone would be enormous.

I think I want to copyright the chord that is in each cab and SUV honker.

As for Christian music, I want to trademark "grace like rain," and rhyming "love" with "above." Also, the phrase "paid my price," could bring in a serious monthly check.

Finally, I think I would trademark farting on packed subways. The fine for offenders there would be enormous, possibly jail time, depending on the stench-o-meter.

What would you trademark, copyright, or paten?

6 comments:

Electric Monk said...

This sounds like that Russian website where you could buy pretty much any song for 5 cents. The owners claimed that Russian copyright law allowed them to do this, and screw what anyone else said.

Here's my patented list:
-Using the word "whilst" instead of "while" for the sole purpose of sounding smart.
-Posting "First!" in the comments section of a blog. Violation punishable by death.
-Air quotes

Electric Monk said...

Oh, and... FIRST!©®™

majorsteve said...

I would like to patent the sigh, the shrug, the rolling of the eyes and the word "whatever".

Anonymous said...

I WOULD TRADEMARK ALL CAPS AND MULTIPLE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seth Ward said...

Love it, friends!

Kate, you would probably be getting a big check from me...

Chaotic Hammer said...

I want to trademark leaving long comments on blogs.