Op/Ed: SLart … SLasshat … SLademark

Ok. I promised to write about the SLart thing for a few days, but keep putting it back in favor of more fun things to write about Like SLoes, SLguns, SLracing or SLfreebies. But you’ll have to wait for my story about SLguns until tomorrow.

Ignore the insults btw. As a capitalist myself I get very pissed off whenever people abuse capitalism for their twisted goals. On top I refuse to do self-censorship, I write what I feel.

By now you probably heard that some SLasshat decided to Trademark the word SLart. Vint blogged it, Loki made the shirt I’m wearing (available in full perm in the Detachable Penis group inworld), SLart Wiki had to change their name, and there’s a discussion on Flickr.

The action of Trademarking the word itself, I can only congratulate. Nothing wrong with that. Congratulations on outsmarting the other SLartists.

What pisses me off is his behavior. Not the Trademark in itself. First of all, the SLoser’s Trademark isn’t registered over here, and by EU TM law it’s the country I’m residing in that decides whether I am doing anything wrong or not … not his country. Which means in easy words: STOP BOTHERING EUROPEANS. Second of all, he’s an immoral twat.

I’ll give a nice example. My grandfather knows jack shit about technology. So when he mentions my new MP3 player, he says it’s an iPod. Also, when I talk about my photo camera, I talk about a Kodak. Even though the MP3 player is a Sansa and the camera is an Olympus.

Do either of those companies sue us or threaten us? No, they don’t. Why not? Because we’re not using those words for commercial gain. If they tried to sue us for using those words in a non-commercial way, they’d lose in any European court. On top it would mean a huge negative PR if they came over as wealthy, multinational companies that sue regular people for a few bucks extra.

This guy, Artworld SLoser or something (the hell I know his last name, I just remember the first name because it sounds like he chose a name to aggrandize himself and jerk off to) - decided to bully regular people like you and me for having the word SLart in their picks, profiles, photos or anything else though. For non-commercial reasons.

Now, I understand a Trademark owner has to protect their Trademark, but you don’t do that by going after the small people. I can somewhat agree with you going after the Wiki since it’s an organisation (though I also somewhat disagree because it’s a non-profit). But I will never agree to companies going after individuals.

You, sir, are not only a SLasshole, a SLoser and SLimmoral, you are also the reason why so many people hate honest businessmen like me. You have no morals and try to make money off of the back of regular people and non-profit organisations. You are the worst kind of plague that grows in this capitalist world. People like you are the reason why capitalist is still used as an insult in certain circles.

And to everyone else who plans to go into business, remember to invest in ethic stocks, take care of the environment, and protect the Regular Joe. Capitalism rules, as long as you have some morals left. Kthnxbye.

~ by Daman Tenk on January 22, 2008.