“Get Out of My Name Space”

James Gleick, writing in the New York Times, addresses problems in namespace:

You don't own your name. Just ask any John Smith.
Then again . . .
The Seattle coffee company known as Starbucks owns its name and, maybe, a little more. It has sued to stop a pair of coffee shops in Shanghai from using the name XINGBAKE. This is the age of globalization, after all. In Chinese, star = xing, and in a way Starbucks = Xingbake. “We came first,” Xingbake's general manager said. “We can't lose.” His name is Mao.
An Atlanta music writer known as BILL WYMAN received a cease-and-desist letter from lawyers representing the former Rolling Stones bass player known as Bill Wyman: demanding, that is, that he “cease and desist” using his name. In responding, Bill Wyman No. 1 pointed out that Bill Wyman No. 2 had been born William George Perks.
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Gleik's Website, http://around.com/ (a super domain name, BTW) has great articles about technology, spam, the breakdown of the U. S. patent system, Microsoft and much more.
[Via Netsurfer Digest]

Posted by trygstad | Category: InfoTech | 11:21 PM