[HN Gopher] An installation-art company called META (or Meta.is)...
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An installation-art company called META (or Meta.is) is suing Meta
(or meta.com)
Author : jordigg
Score : 69 points
Date : 2022-07-19 20:27 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (meta.is)
(TXT) w3m dump (meta.is)
| hassanahmad wrote:
| META looks set to make a lot of money.
| DEveritt wrote:
| There's loads of companies out there with extremely similar
| names. It's hard to come up with something totally unique. I
| believe, legally, it just can't be identical to a name already
| registered in the same state. When I was trying to name my own
| business, it was amazing to see how many names were already taken
| just in my state. Not that it makes it right for Meta/Facebook to
| do whatever they want but any rebranding they chose would
| probably have stepped on someone's toes.
| reaperducer wrote:
| _When I was trying to name my own business, it was amazing to
| see how many names were already taken just in my state._
|
| It's slightly more complicated than that.
|
| It has to be a name that hasn't already been registered to
| cover one of the pre-existing business categories for your
| state.
|
| And, it also has to be a name that isn't registered nationally
| to cover one of the federal pre-existing business categories.
|
| It's possible, and very common, to register a trademark within
| a single state only. I've done it about a half-dozen times in
| two state. You do it if you have a product or service that you
| never expect to go national.
|
| It's how you can have multiple unrelated "#1 Quick Mart" and
| "Danny's Cleaners" in different parts of the nation.
|
| However, in this case, the complainant is in Iceland, so the
| American rules you and I know don't apply.
| kjsingh wrote:
| What if meta.is decides it needs no money and asks FB (I mean
| meta.com) to do a re-branding :D
| metadat wrote:
| It would be awesome, though [sadly] such events in a high-
| profile context are exceedingly rare in capitalism.
|
| Maybe FB could pivot to MetastasiXed, would be a more suitable
| name for the stage FB and Zuck have reached.
| _jal wrote:
| They could just rename to "FB, Inc". FBI for short.
|
| That won't cause any confusion.
| cjrd wrote:
| Ah yeah - I've been bummed that people now think
| https://metacademy.org/ is about meta.
| jonah wrote:
| Back in the day I worked at MetaCreations nee MetaTools[0]. We
| had a web browser plugin that rendered streaming, progressive,
| interactive 3D - well before WebGL et. al. It shipped with IE and
| was available for other browsers as well. The MetaStream
| logo[1][2][3] was surprisingly similar to the Meta one.
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MetaCreations
|
| [1] It was surprisingly hard to find a copy of the logo on image
| search.
|
| [2] https://browserengine.net/wp-
| content/uploads/metastream3plug...
|
| [3]
| https://twitter.com/Salliemeta/status/1454571901381058562/ph...
|
| Nothing new under the sun...
| xoa wrote:
| There's a fun blast from the past! InfiniD was my first serious
| 3D graphics software package when I did that for a while way
| back when on the Mac. I'm trying to remember how I even
| discovered that one, I vaguely recall Ambrosia Software used it
| for creating the sprites in Escape Velocity? I think one of my
| first personal learning projects was using it to make my own
| ships and plug-ins for EV (all done by hand with ResEdit) which
| felt pretty neat at the time. Thanks for your part in what
| MetaCreations did back then, what a wild time that was.
| TN1ck wrote:
| I worked in a lab four years ago, where Kai (the designer of
| MetaTools) was an investor, but it didn't work out as although
| the tech was impressive and cool, it lacked the other
| components that are needed for a startup. They are still
| operating and building stuff in Edinburgh [0]. Sadly, they
| didn't release anything yet.
|
| [0] https://www.kpv-lab.co.uk/
| mason55 wrote:
| Ahh... sorry for pirating Kai's Power Tools and Ray Dream
| Studio when I was like 14!
| chadash wrote:
| While I am not a fan of Facebook/Meta, I actually hope that they
| do not lose this case. If you want to name your company after a
| word that is in common usage, then you should have to deal with
| the fact that others may use the same word for their own
| purposes. JP Morgan seems like a name that hardly limits anyone
| trying to name their company. Apple or Meta are just words in
| common usage.
| SahAssar wrote:
| Apple Computer still paid $80,000 to Apple Corps [1] even
| though it was 2 decades before they entered the music space. I
| don't think apple is a good example for your point.
|
| 1.
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer#1...
| SoftTalker wrote:
| There was a spat between Domino's Pizza and Domino Sugar. For a
| while, Domino's Pizza had to use their full name, not just
| "Domino's", in advertising and even when they answered the
| phone. That seems to have changed, so maybe some new agreement
| was reached.
| thr0wawayf00 wrote:
| Their argument hinges on the fact that both companies operate
| in the VR space, and I agree with Meta.is here.
|
| Trademark law is pretty clear about protecting a brand name
| within a given market. "Apple" and "Meta" are just words, yes,
| but if a second computer company named "Apple" were to appear,
| this would pretty clearly infringe on the Apple trademark, as
| opposed to say Apple T-Shirt Company.
| joshmanders wrote:
| > "Apple" and "Meta" are just words, yes, but if a second
| computer company named "Apple" were to appear, this would
| pretty clearly infringe on the Apple trademark, as opposed to
| say Apple T-Shirt Company.
|
| Which is exactly why Apple was called Apple Computers, Inc
| for a long time, because Apple already existed in computer
| space and Apple Computers was constantly sued by the original
| Apple until they finally came to an agreement and the
| original Apple gave the trademark to Apple Computers.
| pyuser583 wrote:
| I thought the "other Apple" existed in the music space.
| Which wasn't a problem, until Itunes.
| augstein wrote:
| Since it is such a common and useful word, I hope Facebook
| looses this case, as I would find it sad if that word is
| associated with their company by most people for the
| foreseeable future.
| dustractor wrote:
| How can we sue something for being meta when everything is meta?
| babyshake wrote:
| The term "metaverse" was first used in Neil Stevenson's 1982
| novel Snow Crash. IANAL but it seems dubious to me that anyone
| besides Neil gets to claim dibs on the word "meta" as used in the
| context of VR.
| tfigment wrote:
| 1992 by the way. Seemed way to new when i read it in 90s to be
| 1982. Your point probably still stands.
| kej wrote:
| Trademarks are about protecting a mark used in commerce, not
| the first person to utter a word or phrase.
| w-ll wrote:
| This site is just tried to fake a chrome update for me. Serving
| up malware.
|
| Viewing source their wordpress for sure has been hacked.
|
| Obfuscated JS at the bottom of every static js file. Must be
| something random that it targeted me. cant seam to make it
| trigger again.
| jordigg wrote:
| I just dropped a message to the CEO via LinkedIn, hope they can
| check on it. Didn't pop-up for me, either adblock or just being
| enabled for a sample of the visitors.
| easrng wrote:
| It's downloading a zipped JScript file, still trying to figure
| out what it does. It looks like they took an unmodified copy of
| a normal JS library and wrapped it in an try/catch block so
| when it errors from not being in the right environment the
| "error reporter" kicks in and evals some JS is downloads from
| 582e.call.pgee.org (which appears to be non-functional)
| VohuMana wrote:
| Same thing just happened to me, hope no one falls for it.
| helij wrote:
| Here as well. I loaded the site again and it works fine on a
| second try.
|
| I use Firefox and it automatically downloaded a .zip file and
| shown a page with instructions to update Firefox for 'better
| user experience'.
| spywaregorilla wrote:
| Interesting. Given they've dealt in the VR space before, and
| registered the trademark, this would seem to be a compelling
| case. I wish them the best.
| mmaunder wrote:
| Reminds me of eToys vs eToy in the late 90s. Hacking groups
| targeted eToys and caused many late nights for the ops team. I
| joined eToys shortly after as a Perl dev and decided to nmap scan
| ToysRUs and eToys cybersecurity team was on a hair trigger after
| the eToy hacks. Someone literally came thumping down the hallway
| and walked straight into my office. I put my hands up and started
| apologizing profusely and they let it slide.
|
| https://www.artforum.com/print/200003/etoys-vs-etoy-278
| whoibrar wrote:
| I also occassionally mourn the death of the word Meta, It was
| such a beautiful and succinct word. Meta means
| about the thing itself. It's seeing the thing from a higher
| perspective instead of from within the thing, like being self-
| aware.
|
| Not to forget the words like Metadata, Meta-physics, Meta-
| analysis, Metameme.
|
| Long live Meta[adjective].
| hyperhopper wrote:
| I cry a little bit every time people use "meta" or "metagame"
| as a synonym for "strategy"
| dan-robertson wrote:
| This usage in modern words traces its way back to an analogy to
| metaphysics transcending physics. In Greek, meta meant _with_
| or _after_ and the book _metaphysics_ was named because it came
| after _physics_. The Greek word has related etymology to the
| Old English _mid_ (or mid) which was subsumed into the meaning
| of _with_ (an original usage of the word _with_ can be found in
| the word _withstanding_ ).
|
| One may notice words that come from the original Greek meaning
| if they start with meth or met + some vowel except a (although
| words with this original sense) and modern words (eg in
| zoology) also exist based on the old Greek meaning, as well as
| other irregular constructions (in geology words beginning with
| meta relate to metamorphosis).
|
| Notwithstanding the broken origins of the sense you describe,
| it is indeed a good word/prefix.
| pineaux wrote:
| Also a nice fact: "Mit" is still the German word for "with".
| So is "met", but that's in dutch. The Danes use the word:
| "med".
| coding123 wrote:
| It's perfect name for Facebook because now when we hear stories
| of "FBI Data collection was just the Meta Data" it will mean
| everything about you, your friends, your call voice data,
| pictures of your genitals and everything else!
| t_mann wrote:
| The word Alphabet didn't go away when Google renamed their
| parent company, and I'm confident that the word meta will also
| prove stronger than its SV appropriation.
| sircastor wrote:
| In think in the case of Alphabet, they wanted to insulate the
| Google brand and company from their other ventures, and
| they've successfully done that. Facebook was doing somewhat
| the opposite. They wanted to insulate their other brands from
| the Facebook brand. There's also some suggestion that Mark
| Zuckerberg sees VR as the whole future of the company, and
| wanted that reflected in the name.
| sorry_outta_gas wrote:
| 'Meta' is being used for their branding 'Meta Quest 2'
| Alphabet isn't really used in that fashion
|
| either way they should go with 'Metaspace' or 'Fluppy pups
| International' since everyone loves puppies
| TJSomething wrote:
| I think a more apt example is Oracle, which is used in a
| lot of their branding.
| actuator wrote:
| Extremely stupid decision to rename it. Out of all their
| products only Oculus has overwhelmingly positive brand
| name, I don't know why they will want to change that. Would
| make more sense to build stuff around the Oculus name.
| wutbrodo wrote:
| Whatsapp is overwhelmingly popular, no? I'd guess much
| more so than Oculus.
|
| And anecdotally, IG users seem to feel very positively
| about it in a way that isn't true for fb or Twitter
| users. Most of the handwringing about IG that I've seen
| comes from commentators
| actuator wrote:
| IG is popular among its users and doesn't have the same
| image as FB has but it also has been in news for reports
| on body dysmorphia, depression etc
|
| You are right about WhatsApp though, it aslo largely has
| a very positive image till now
| willcipriano wrote:
| I just realized now if I put meta-programming on my resume the
| HR drones are going to think I worked for Zuckerberg.
| zeroonetwothree wrote:
| Doubtful
| jrockway wrote:
| Yeah, I don't think these holding companies mean much to
| people inside or outside the company. No random person on
| the street knows what Alphabet or Meta is, they know Google
| and Facebook. I certainly don't put "Alphabet" on my
| resume. I worked there and I don't even know what it meant
| exactly.
| rococode wrote:
| There's a difference, though.
|
| Meta is a renaming. There is no "Facebook" company
| anymore. It's all Meta. Meta has a _product_ named
| "Facebook", not a _company_ named "Facebook".
|
| Alphabet is a holding company. "Google" still exists as a
| standalone company, it's just owned by Alphabet.
| martyvis wrote:
| I'm not sure about that. Whenever our public TV or radio
| station, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, makes
| reference to Google or Facebook in a corporate sense they
| always clearly mention the parent company.
| layer8 wrote:
| I hereby offer Without any rhyme nor reason This
| short meta verse.
| jmole wrote:
| don't forget about Meta-Metadata:
| https://ecologylab.net/research/publications/metaMetadataCIK...
| layer8 wrote:
| "Please delete all my meta data" will become ambiguous. ;)
| nickstinemates wrote:
| Weird how name/brand recognition works. Facebook the company
| rebranding had zero impact/change on me. I think of their
| properties first and the name of the parent company never. It
| doesn't really matter.
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