vidGuy

@Punkrawk Bbob

First, the link to the GameBoy Color game is in, you know, color. Is your monitor broken? Second, this was clearly a joke.

Now think about what you said.

Forget unlocking, I would be the master of smashing that GBC cartridge if I had ever played that.

@Softserve

There are good reasons for the focus on foreigners. In particular, anyone hosting infringing content from within the US is easy to get at and take down. If the content is hosted outside of the US, though, there are problems of jurisdiction and extending US copyright law abroad. These bills intended to minimize those problems.

@Lerkero

Free speech rights create many limits to trademark rights, not just parody. Did you notice that this post used the words "Battlefield 3"? Did you know those words are trademarked? http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4001:vn68f5.2.1

That's nominative fair use of trademark at work there, under the "news reporting" prong. The question here is not whether they used the mark, but whether they actually traded on the mark. It's a legal distinction that turns on the intent of the use and whether consumers are confused about the sponsorship (or lack thereof) by Textron.

evilkoala is right here. Here's the particular legal distinction.

Trademarks protect brands and consumer expectations. Trademark infringement occurs when a defendant actually "trades" on the mark by using it to identify the maker, source, or seller of the product, for example by using the word "Fender" on a guitar. Nominative fair use occurs when a defendant uses the mark other than as a trademark, such as by writing an article about guitars and actually using the trademarked word "Fender." You can't talk about Fender guitars without using that word.

In a racing game, a big selling point can be the realism of in-game models of actual cars, so the game actually "trades on" those marks by using them in the game. Nobody is buying this game for the particular helicopters used in game. Easy win for EA.

Cleaning the house is unnecessary when you spend all your time in front of the TV. I might need a new couch, though.

@Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi

It's a fair comparison when you consider the markets for these things. There is a much bigger market for blockbuster films, just as there is for the Ford Fusion over the Murcielago. When you convince enough people to spend $1 billion on your product, that's impressive. Dollars is dollars.

That's a good guide, but if you have access to your local router you can just block at that level. Login, block rad.msn.com, done. 15 seconds.

It's a problem with the media. Forbes, for example, uses the headline "Mario and Zelda Creator Shigeru Miyamoto Retiring as Head of Nintendo." You have to get nearly 100 words in before realizing he is staying with the company.

@OMAOILRIAN

All patents have a limit of 20 years in the US. It is a very powerful right for a small amount of time - usually only 17 years of effective life after the patent is granted. Copyright is a different scheme and provides a much narrower right for a longer period of time.