Can We Make A Power Hour Drinking Game Around Ridiculous Trademark Disputes?

from the drink-up dept

Tue, May 11th 2010 7:29am — Mike Masnick

A whole bunch of folks have sent in variations on this story of how some guy, who started selling various products (DVDs and such) marketed around the phrase "power hour," (based on the well-known drinking game called "power hour") was able to get himself a trademark on the term. He's been using this trademark to bully others who have used the very, very generic phrase "power hour" in various projects, including musician Ali Spagnola, who created 60 one-minute "power hour" songs to go along with the drinking game, and the website PowerHourHQ, which is devoted to the drinking game. Apparently, the guy with the trademark, Steve Roose, has been sending around cease & desist letters, demanding the removal of all content that mentions "power hour." Anyway, seems like there should be a decent drinking game around these types of stories on Techdirt since we get so many these days...

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Filed Under: drinking, power hour, trademark

29 Comments

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Hulser (profile), 11 May 2010 @ 7:49am

Anyway, seems like there should be a decent drinking game around these types of stories on Techdirt since we get so many these days...

Take a drink whenever the word "draconian" appears in a TechDirt post. ;-)
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- A Dan (profile), 11 May 2010 @ 7:57am
  
  Re:
  That seems to be used less often lately. A quick control-f of the main page shows the stories there have no "draconian" at all. The only right now is the never-ending poll.
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- N W Karels (profile), 12 May 2010 @ 2:44pm
  
  Re:
  One of my favorite things to do is read the articles here on my cellphone, while sitting in my favorite brewpub.
  
  Every time I have to press a nav key (i.e. scroll) I take a big ol' sip off my pint of IPA.
  
  With the initial load errors its WAP browser makes me wade through, I polish off pint#1 in 4 minutes, and pints 2..n 10 minutes each.
  
  On a good day, I'm fairly sloshed when I leave here :)
  
  -NK
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Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 8:13am

Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
Much more fun would be to play a game of monopoly by allowing 5 moves a day. If a patent abuse topic come on techdirt, all players go to prison. If a copyright abuse comes on techdirt, then all players go to start, and of course they don't receive any earnings there. I wonder how long this game will last before anybody finishes. Masnick is not allowed to participate. He will be the bank.
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- Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 11 May 2010 @ 8:27am
  
  Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
  How about a drinking game where everyone drinks when an AC posts something nonsensical?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 8:30am
    
    Re: Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
    You are rude and you hurt me. Boehoe. I'm going to complain to my mummy about you. Of course I won't do that, but I will ask you: what is so nonsensical about this ?
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    - Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 11 May 2010 @ 9:11am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
      "but I will ask you: what is so nonsensical about this ?"
      
      Well, if we take your post for what it is, the game will never be finished. Everyone would just be going from "jail" to "go" and back again. Even if someone manages to take their five turns one day, the next article would just send everyone back to "jail" or "go". That doesn't make any damn sense.
      
      So, everyone drink.
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 8:53am
  
  Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
  "If a patent abuse topic come on techdirt, all players go to prison. If a copyright abuse comes on techdirt, then all players go to start, and of course they don't receive any earnings there."
  
  Everyone would be in jail and running in circles because there is so much patent and copywrong abuse that occurs that the game would be a disaster. This is why our current patent and copywrong system needs to be fixed.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 8:56am
    
    Re: Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
    Say, maybe better to make it entertaining then. If a copyright issue pops up a random player goes to start. If a patent issue comes up a random player goes to prison. The other variable is the number of daily moves that can be made. 5 is indeed probably too low. Maybe something of 50 moves a day might make more sense. Of course, this also depends on how many people participate.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 9:01am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
      What about when the USPTO grants a good patent or when there is a sensible copyright law that gets placed or when a sensible copyright gets "granted" (since everything automatically gets granted a copyright by default). What about examples of when patents and copyrights aren't abused but are actually used to promote the progress? What happens then? Would we even find examples of this?
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      - Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 10:12am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
        All true and important considerations ! But the goal of the game would not be to win any monetary profit, it is mainly to sustain a stable 'not moving' !
        
        We could of course, for the sheer fun of it, add a TAM-rule. If you throw three times 6 in two throws then TAM will trample on your prospective property and remove that house you might be able to buy in the future.
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        Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 11:35am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
        What about this. One of the chance cards consists of a TAM card and the TAM card consists of a retarded and illogical lawsuit, propagated by IP maximists and lawyers, stating that by playing the game you are infringing on their patent/copyright/or whatever else you could be infringing upon. In the lawsuit you give all your money, not to the bank, but to a collection box called lawyers and you end up losing all your money on legal expenses, go bankrupt, and you go back to start and collect $200 from the government as a form of welfare income or something.
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        Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 11:42am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
        Sounds quite realistic and at least using your rule 'some' money is coming into the system. Of course the housing crisis in the US might make the idea of monopoly a bit too painful. It might maybe be better to instead of buying houses to buy 'intellectual property', and since this a long lasting process involving multiple steps, it might resemble the process of house buying in monopoly as well. Street names should then resemble different types of patent with the blocks in each street a number of well documented patent cases (which were or were not succesful, just visible would be sufficient).
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        Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 1:16pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
        and boardwalk and park place could be replaced with a monopoly on food and a monopoly on water. If you get both it creates synergy, you get a monopoly on air. Then if anyone trespasses on your monopoly you get to collect huge royalties. The monopoly board is essentially a patent, copyright, and other IP minefield, whoever lands there first gets to buy the patent from the patent office (kinda like the bank) and if anyone else later steps on it they pay huge royalties.
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 2:04pm
  
  Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
  new troll technique. i am impressed mike. you apparently hate to lose.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 12 May 2010 @ 12:17am
    
    Re: Re: Monopoly with external prison and restart ?
    Could you please start making sense ?
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P3T3R5ON (profile), 11 May 2010 @ 8:28am

Somebody needs to
Somebody needs to make a how to manual to patent/copyright anything and everything. That way we can go around for the rest of our lives stepping on everybody elses 'property' and we can sue each other and send C&D letters all over the place... at least the USPS would be happy.
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- Willton, 11 May 2010 @ 2:02pm
  
  Re: Somebody needs to
  Somebody needs to make a how to manual to patent/copyright anything and everything.
  
  I nominate you.
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Esahc (profile), 11 May 2010 @ 8:29am

O_o
I don't think anyone could drink that much.
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Barf, 11 May 2010 @ 8:35am

::/
ok we get it. techdirt writers are a bunch of gollege grads who couldnt get real jobs....
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 8:55am
  
  Re: ::/
  They all have "fake" jobs that pay tons of money.
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 12:11pm
  
  Re: ::/
  some of them arent even grads. one guy was a first year student when he started writing here. talk about lame.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 8:58am

"was able to get himself a trademark on the term."

I think somebody had a little too much to drink at the trademark office.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 9:25am

the techdirt drinking game is you have to slug back a shot every time the masnick says "we have already shown". most people will pass out before the end of the first page. as for this trademark, those who were using it before the trademark was issued just need to show it, and the trademark can be either negated or diminished. it would be a good case to fight, if any of them have any money to do it with.
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- Any Mouse, 11 May 2010 @ 9:32am
  
  Re:
  Hi, TAM.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 11 May 2010 @ 9:48am
    
    Re: Re:
    hi techdirt employee.
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    - Any Mouse, 11 May 2010 @ 2:36pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Don't I just wish. Seriously. Then I wouldn't be on disability, and wouldn't mind getting 15ga needles jabbed in my arms at the dialysis center 3 times a week. Hell, I'd finally be able to afford a laptop to use while sitting there 3.5 hours and watching my blood cycle outside my body.
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Skout (profile), 11 May 2010 @ 9:28am

This article...
...is really all about trying to taunt the guy into trying to bully Techdirt, right? I mean, how many times did Mike actually use the offending term in his one-paragraph article?

LOL well good luck. Taunting is fair use, of course, right? ;)
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john, 10 Jun 2012 @ 9:00pm

http://powerhourgame.com/trademark
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