Charlotte944

Obviously some of us have never written a book, or a magazine article, written lyrics or scored a song, adapeted a book to a screen play, or published a poem, because then we would understand what "intellectual property" and copy rights are all about.

Calling the folks at Porsche "*****" simply because they want to protect their property is irresponsible, childish, and just plain wrong.

How would you feel is some "schmuck" took your name and used it for whatever they wanted?

The name "Porsche" belongs to Porsche AG. Its theirs, they own it, and they can legally go after anyone that uses that name without the express permission of Porsche AG, so get over it.

Ane here's a special note for UDPride: Just be glad that I'm not running this forum, 'cause you'd be gone.

Matt H

Ane here's a special note for UDPride: Just be glad that I'm not running this forum, 'cause you'd be gone.

WTF are you talking about? Nothing in his post violates the RL charters or for that matter is even so bad you wouldnt let your kids read it.

People feel very strongly about this subject. While I agree that they own the name, what they are doing to their owner base is not terribly smart.
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Red1

I agree completely, but it's not just Porsche. Harley Davidson is one of the worst for this. They went after a shop that was known as the Hog Shop, because they had a copyright on "hog". It didn't matter the shop had been in business under that name since the 60's.

And don't forget the ultimate corporate "*****", Disney. Hell, I'm probably putting myself at mortal risk just for mentioning them.

Travis - sflraver

Tell them they can take you to court and force you to take it down or pay you $500 for the site so you can have funds to setup another personal site dedicated to your car.
If I remember correctly, they actually purchased most of the "Porsche" sites back when the crack down was going on.

Luis de Prat

Matt, perhaps it was the term "Porsche *****," which besides being in and of itself an oxymoron, is also politically incorrect at best in a forum like Rennlist.

Sean

MichelleJD is correct about humor, parody, and satire receiving broad 1st Amendment protection.

Ironically, you could plaster the word "Porsche" and its trademarks all over a humor/parody site that ridicules the company. You just can't use the trademarks on a fan site!

The one exclusion to humor/parody protection involves something called "product defamation." For example, a humor site that alleged that a specific Porsche product was somehow defective. If Porsche could prove its products had been defamed, it could recover damages.

Anyway, it's unfortunate that enthusiasts are the ones targeted by the corporate lawyers. But the same has happened with other companies. Playboy has prohibited some Playmates (tm) from using the name. Paramount lawyers have aggressively shut down Star Trek fan sites. (Maybe that's one reason the show's ratings have tanked.)

Matt H

Matt, perhaps it was the term "Porsche *****

Luis,

1) no one takes that term seriously (at least I hope not)
2) there is no way that that term is the worst thing said in this forum
3) **** is a historical term and I dont see how ANYONE could be offended by it
4) The use thereof is, in no way, politically incorrect IMHO
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peterjcb

THE question is whether anyone, other than Porsche, should be allowed to "own" a domain name when the domain name contains direct references to Porsche. The other question is whether or not the "Rule" should apply when there is no gain or profit whatsoever from using said domain name.

Like I said before, it's not real important to me and I don't really care if I can't use the domain anymore BUT I do believe that if Porsche wants to protect their rights they should control such an obvious domain name.
I probably would be willing to sell it to them so they can "protect" it from people like myself. If they don't want to buy it to protect it, then I do believe that I have the right to sell it to someone else who wants it.

BTW, the lawyers and corporate people are just doing their job and I understand that. It's just the usual lack of consideration that's just "part of the package" with big companies.

If I owned the Porsche Corporation I would be excited to see passionate people still touting the outstanding characteristics of an 18 year old car, but that's just me.

Luis de Prat

Hey Matt, have you become the official Rennlist Legal Counsel all of a sudden?

I'm sure worse things have been/are said in this forum, but that's besides the point. One thing that perhaps escapes people with many posts but not much of a history on Rennlist is that other people such as Cliff (aka Charlotte944) who have been here for years, are either considerably older than many of you or may have a military background which could very well take offense to putting the term "****" next to the make of car that brings them here as enthusiasts.

Just because you don't take offense to something that's politically incorrect, don't assume no one else will.

UDPride

Jeez.

Charlotte-

You can talk copyright/trademark mumbo jumbo all night long. And I wont disagree that Porsche HAS the right to bully some 22yr old ***** with a 5 page web site built with Frontpage that shows off his pride and joy and gets 1900 hits a year. They DO have that right.

My point is, Porsche SHOULD exercise some objective judgement, on a case by case basis, and not blanket their entire position -- especially those who make it their life goal to drive their cars. Instead of just saying "The hell with all of you, we'll attack everybody", they should show a little rational critical thinking skills and say, "Hey, yeah we have a policy and yea the name is copyrighted and yeah the guy is technically in violation, but this guy is just a pimple on a camels *** and we have a lot better and more important things to be litigating right now so we'll keep an eye on him but unless he tries to pretend hes an official Porsche web site or throw mud at the Porsche brand, we'll let him entertain himself in the name of good repoire, customer relations, and chalk it up to a guy who loves our cars -- of which we wish all owners were that enthusiastic."

Problem is, too many lawyers are book smart, but they aren't life smart. They grab a sledgehammer when trying to kill an ant and they end up thinking the ant is "deader". Porsche CAN do whatever they want here as far as this guys domain, but I think its narrow-minded, petty, destructive, and makes Porsche look like they have nothing better to do. If some guy started a site that was PorscheSucks.com, I could see where Porsche might want to act aggressively. But just blindly throwing paperwork at every tom, dick, and harry with no regard to context is elitist and a poor excuse for valuing your customer.

I own web sites myself, and have trademarked names, copyrighted content. However if someone feels so impressed with my product that they want to spin off another web site with my name in there somewhere, and its 100% obvious its a) not an attempt to mimick my web site), and b) not an attempt to confuse my web site with theirs, and c) upholds my name in good fashion, Im not going to make a stink of it. I COULD. But life is too short for that relatively meaningless stuff.

I'm really done this time.

UDPride

Jeez.

Charlotte-

You can talk copyright/trademark mumbo jumbo all night long. And I wont disagree that Porsche HAS the right to bully some 22yr old ***** with a 5 page web site built with Frontpage that shows off his pride and joy and gets 1900 hits a year. They DO have that right.

My point is, Porsche SHOULD exercise some objective judgement, on a case by case basis, and not blanket their entire position -- especially those who make it their life goal to drive their cars. Instead of just saying "The hell with all of you, we'll attack everybody", they should show a little rational critical thinking skills and say, "Hey, yeah we have a policy and yea the name is trademarked and yeah the guy is technically in violation, but this guy is just a pimple on a camels *** and we have a lot better and more important things to be litigating right now so we'll keep an eye on him but unless he tries to pretend hes an official Porsche web site or throw mud at the Porsche brand, we'll let him entertain himself in the name of good repoire, customer relations, and chalk it up to a guy who loves our cars -- of which we wish all owners were that enthusiastic."

Problem is, too many lawyers are book smart, but they aren't life smart. They grab a sledgehammer when trying to kill an ant and they end up thinking the ant is "deader". Porsche CAN do whatever they want here as far as this guys domain, but I think its narrow-minded, petty, destructive, and makes Porsche look like they have nothing better to do. If some guy started a site that was PorscheSucks.com, I could see where Porsche might want to act aggressively. But just blindly throwing paperwork at every tom, dick, and harry with no regard to context is elitist and a poor excuse for valuing your customer.

I own web sites myself, and have trademarked names, copyrighted content. However if someone feels so impressed with my product that they want to spin off another web site with my name in there somewhere, and its 100% obvious its a) not an attempt to mimick my web site), and b) not an attempt to confuse my web site with theirs, and c) upholds my name in good fashion, Im not going to make a stink of it. I COULD. But life is too short for that relatively meaningless stuff.

I'm really done this time.

Matt H

Dude, I was on the list in 1996 so dont get your pants in a wad. I didnt say anything about legal this or that. I have a military background myself so ask questions first, speak second. My grandfather on my fathers side had relatives in concentration camps. And as to whether or not older is better, surely that is a joke. I am not 17 and I am certainly above the median age here (given the poll results) but is someones opinion more valuable because they are older? If a guy who was 80 told you the sky is falling would you take cover?

I am not going to screw with this anymore, the thread is not about this but if the term Porsche **** is that offensive to you then have a serious problem, especially when it is used in the context it was used in. Grow a thicker skin, whatever you need to do, but holy **** dont get so easily offended. This is a family and in a family of this size there will be lots of things said that people dont agree with.

Maybe you should sue Seinfeld for emotional distress for their "Soup ****" episode.
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Peckster

They'll do what they have to do to protect the brand because they have a lot invested in it and it's worth their while. Brands are very important to big companies and with good reason. It's one of the reasons the US economy is so healthy. If anything looks like or sounds like their brand, they will still come after you.

Some companies end up having to back off if they're taking too much flack, but I doubt that will happen in your case. Usually it happens when someone's image or name predates those of the suing company.

panzer grey

So if Porsche "owns" their logo and you can't use it without their expressed written permission, does that mean all of our hood badges are "illegal" ? or does purchase of the car give the owner the right to display the Porsche logo ?

What if someone decided to use their Porsche as a taxi ? That would be a for-profit business that uses the Porsche logo to generate sales, with no commission going to Porsche.

I wonder if someone has the rights to "Cayenne" ?

I thought it was a dumb name for a Porsche anyway....When I think of high-quality German precision engineering that thing that comes to mind is third-world South American indian tribes.

Porsche should have used the German word for "rugged" or "offroad".

No offense meant to any Tupi members of the forum !!!

panzer grey

[ the last thing that comes to mind ]

Shoulda spell checked !