I was told but was unable to confirm that Disney's copyright of the Tasmanian
devil restricted what could be written about it in Australia. Urban legend?
Rob Schaap wrote:
> G'day Pen-pals,
>
> I see the Australian Institute of Management have felt the slings and arrows
> of US jurisdiction without having to buy a plane ticket. They've just
> listed a 20-year-old course called 'Effective Negotiation Skills' on their
> web site. And now it's gone. A US training group called Karrass has
> claimed 'effective negotiation' (and permutations of that with a couple of
> likely other millenium-old ordinary words, like 'advanced' and 'sales') as
> its trademarks, and AIM had either to defend itself in an American court or
> cut its losses. It chose wisely. AIM are cross, because Australians are
> not nearly as looney as Yanks, and, in Australia, purely descriptive words
> do not a trademark make.
>
> Another notch for the barking behemoth, then. The internet is effectively
> under US jurisdiction, and the language is being enclosed word-by-word.
> Glad I've my Dutch to fall back on.
>
> (For those keeping an eye on these things, it's all in the February 4
> (Australian) Business Review Weekly).
>
> There's a bright side for we pedagogues, I s'pose. It usually takes ages to
> define and explain to the first-years such terms as 'commoditisation',
> 'enclosure of the commons' and 'wall-biting fucking mad'. And to
> distinguish between 'globalism' and 'imperialism'. It should be easier now
> ...
>
> And should we band together and buy the trademark on 'ceterus paribus',
> 'supply' and 'demand'? 95% of the world's economists consigned to life-long
> silence - and all by 'market forces'. Luvverly.
>
> Cheers,
> Rob
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Chico, CA 95929
530-898-5321
fax 530-898-5901
