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Comment by Someone1234 | Hacker News Reader

There are 82 English dictionary words that contain the word "Sky." 63 of those words start with the word "Sky." Therefore by logical extension of this ruling, they have at minimum given Sky free trademarks on 82 additional words. That doesn't even include made up words like "Skype."

These types of decisions are going to massively limit the number of trademarkable words available for businesses to register in general. It wasn't even like Sky and Skype are directly competing with one another (VoIP/Chat/Video over Ip Vs. Satellite TV). Or that Skype was trying to feed off of Sky's reputation or brand.

This ruling is simply terrible. It is terrible within itself and sets an even worse precedent. The EU needs to pass additional laws clarifying this so that courts cannot reach these kind of conclusions.

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Your understanding of trademark law is not correct. The crucial question is whether consumers will be confused by two different entities using the same or a similar trademark.

One of the first things you learn about trademarks is that two companies can have the same trademark if they are in different industries and the consumer is unlikely to confuse the two companies. For example, there is both an airline and a faucet manufacturer called "Delta". There is both an electronics company and an agricultural seed company called "Pioneer". However, Lindows had to change their name to Linspire because it was clearly in the same industry as Microsoft and the consumer could easily confuse it with the trademarked Windows software. Similarly, the social networking site Teachbook eventually relented after being sued by Facebook and changed their name to TeachQuest.

It definitely is not the case that this ruling grants the company Sky free trademarks on every word in the dictionary that contains those three letters.

For Example:

Apple Computers - Apple Records (Beatles)

Macintosh Computers - Macintosh Stereo Equipment (Stereo Equipment is much more expensive than the technology company)

Actually, Apple/Apple is a really good example because Apple Records sued Apple Computers when the latter got into music.

Apple Computers had an agreement with Apple Records that it would not go into the Music Business and Apple Computers broke their promise and did not try to find a solution that would work for both parties.

Kind of like hoe there already was a Motorola iPhone in 2005 and iPhone was debut on 2007.

Therefore by logical extension of this ruling, they have at minimum given Sky free trademarks on 82 additional words.

Well, not quite. From the article:

"The case was not a legal challenge to Skype's use of the mark, it was only against the registration," [a Microsoft spokeswoman] told BBC News. "We're confident that no confusion exists between these brands and services and will appeal. This decision does not require us to alter product names in any way."

The court hasn't said that Sky owns the Skype trademark -- only that Microsoft cannot have the additional benefits provided by registration (which AFAIK are primarily a presumption of validity and larger damages if infringed).

That said, I'm inclined to agree with you that "Sky" and "Skype" are clearly different words, despite one being a prefix of the other.

> It wasn't even like Sky and Skype are directly competing with one another

Not yet, but as the article says, Skype were seeking to register their name as a trademark in a number of fields where Sky DO operate - e.g. Products, services, TV.

It wasn't even like Sky and Skype are directly competing with one another (VoIP/Chat/Video over Ip Vs. Satellite TV).

That's what I thought, too, until a co-worker corrected me. Sky does have phone service, though[1].

1. http://www.sky.com/products/broadband-talk/talk/features/

Which came first though? Skype was on of the first VoIP providers out there, if Sky moved into Skype's market after-the-fact, aren't they the ones violating Skype's trademark

The article doesn't really say why the decision came down the way it did. Without knowing the details I agree that it seems strange, as a TV channel and a phone platform don't seem easily confusable, however look at it this way:

Sky is a broadcaster for transmitting video and audio to many people. Skype is a communication platform for transmitting video and audio between groups of people.

With that description I can now see why Sky won the trademark case. I still don't agree with the decision, but at least now it doesn't seem so crazy.

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