SBC's Project D.U. Web Site. Can Skinner sue? Any attorneys in the house?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.projectdu.com/

http://www.projectdu.com/ShowContent.aspx?PgName=1

Project D.U. is a network of top blogs and collection of influential editors designed to inform, as well as entertain. A place where content is king. Where smart, witty, never-thought-of-that-before banter always rises to the top. It's your connection to uncommon thoughts on common subjects.

Our network of 30 bloggers are viewed as the best in the biz – every day you'll be able to find a new post in Project D.U.'s four channels (Entertainment, Music, Sports and Technology) from at least one of these movers and shakers. Add to that a daily post from one of our nine expert editors, and you won't miss anything happening in the blogosphere. Think of us as the middleman, the informant, the eavesdropper.

In other words, the center of your digital universe.

BLOGGING 101
Know the difference between a moblog and a moped? (Hint: While both will help you escape from a boring afternoon at work, only one will make you cool.) Whether you're a veteran blog reader or a Paris "A What?s blog?? Hilton,our handy little guide will be sure to open your eyes to the humorous, insightful and just plain crazy world of blogging.

BLOG READER
For those who can't get enough blogs, but don't have the time to surf all day, we've created our very own Project D.U. Reader. It gives you up-to-the-minute headlines from all our blogs, and lets you add your own favorites.

[colonel odis]

1. perhaps they just need a few thousand emails and posts

telling them what d.u. stands for.

i wouldn't take on sbc legally. they'll have more lawyers and money to spend than anyone else.

maybe they should just make skinner very, very wealthy and buy out use of d.u.

[BattyDem]

2. I'm not a lawyer, but ...

the name of this site is not DU. That's just an abbreviation and/or affectionate nickname used by DUers. That would be like Dewars (scotch whiskey) suing DU for using DUers, wouldn't it? :shrug:

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

7. I know, but occasionally people register nicknames and abbreviations...

...like "Coca-Cola" and "Coke."

One product, two names.

[BattyDem]

9. Oh I see...

I didn't think of that. :blush:

[Orangepeel]

8. the critical issues are consumer confusion and economic harm

I'm not a lawyer, either, but I have read a bit about trademark issues.

As I understand it, to win a suit, a business would have to show two things: 1) a substantial likelihood of consumer confusion and 2) economic harm. First, would a reasonable consumer of DU be likely to conclude "Project DU" was run by the same company that runs DU? It is more likely that this would be the case than it would be that Dewars and DU would be confused because they are in the same field. Second, is DU's ability to raise money, its ability to sell ads or its image damaged by Project DU? If not, no compensation is warranted.

Also as I understand it, it is quite difficult to win a trademark infringement suit.

[swag]

3. Not the worst site. Consider this:

http://www.projectdu.com/Blogs.aspx?ChannelID=5&ArticleID=395

The Swift Boat Adventure (... Some More)
Posted By: Joe Reid @ 9:41 AM 1/16/2006
Forget "truthiness." The best and most applicable new term to have arisen in the past two years has been "swift-boating" -- that is, the deep-sixing of left-wing, anti-war advocates with military backgrounds by impugning or degrading that very military service. Swift-boating, meet Rep. John Murtha. The charges levied by the conservative Cybercast News Service that Murtha didn't sufficiently earn his two Purple Hearts has been called a "smear" by The Heretik, and not a very good one at that. The Moderate Voice is sensing a pattern with the swift-boating tactic, and notes the suspiciously good timing of the charges coinciding with a new round of Murtha speaking out about Iraq. Brilliant at Breakfast also sees the pattern of attack the medals, attack the man, and notes that medals like these are often a source of great emotion for the soldiers. They Get Letters is fed up with the idea that failing to live up to some John Wayne ideal equates to a tarnished military service record. Meanwhile, Daily Kos takes the Washington Post to task for lazy reporting and parroting the CNS story without sufficient research. Life and Deatherage also criticizes the Post, a supposed member of the "liberal media".

[Canuckistanian]

4. "DU" seems to mean "Digital Universe"

And it's trademarked.

There might be a case, but why bother? They don't seem to be competing directly with our DU.

Besides, I see failure written all over this thing. Their "blogger network" consists of people and blogs I've never heard of. They're certainly not "movers and shakers".

[stevedeshazer]

12. And it is a common abbreviation for "depleted uranium." n/t

[MercutioATC]

5. I didn't know that Skinner owned the letters "D" and "U"....

...and SBC's "D.U." stands for "digital universe".

No basis for a suit that I see.

[ochazuke]

10. So, can I start a computer company ...

called Information Base Management? Guess what I'll call it for short ;)

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. That's what trademarks are for

And IBM has registered a slew of them, including, not surprisingly, 'IBM'. If Skinner had registered 'DU' as a trademark, he'd have a case. Common law trademarks arise from usage; but I don't think Democratic Underground has been publicised as "DU" - it's just what we users refer to it as, sometimes. So I don't think he would be able to do much.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. This just in:

Democratic Underground sued by Depleted Uranium.

[zbdent]

11. Well, if Current Broadband can hit Al Gore . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2046524