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General discussion

Murdoch and the Sky Ego

Aug 18, 2010 12:38AM PDT

Australian-born American media magnate, Rupert Murdoch, claims he owns the word "Sky". Murdoch is suing the online phone company Skype for illegal use of "Sky" in their name.

Murdoch lawyers said, "the key contention in the dispute is that the brands ?Sky? and ?Skype? will be considered confusingly similar by members of the public." The real issue: Murdoch is upset that investors won't know the difference.

This is going to be a Murdoch slippery slope; according to US Securities and Exchange Commission there are 226 companies that begin with the word "Sky" and 80 that have "Sky" in their company name. A few of these companies are direct competition to Sky news and broadcast media. (http://www.sec.gov/)

Not to get Murdoch all in a tussle, but SKY on the trading floor is already owned by a company in Indiana called Skyline Corporation. Skyline Corp was originally incorporated in Indiana in 1959 and founded in 1951. Their product is manufactured homes. (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SKY)

Others with Sky

Google Sky
WNBA Chicago Sky
Sky Software
Movie: Vanilla Sky

I suggest we now verbally replace all Rupert Murdoch's "Sky" with $ky (i.e. $ky TV, b$kyb).

Maria
Ashland, WI

Discussion is locked

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Voicemail to Bol
Aug 18, 2010 12:41AM PDT

Left a VM at BOL

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He does have a point, though...
Aug 18, 2010 4:24AM PDT

We wouldn't want confusion such as "The Skype is falling, the Skype is falling!", or "Lucy in the Skype with Diamonds", or "Mr. Blue Skype", or "Pie in the Skype".

Seriously, though, companies and entities do this (and some with great success) all the time, such as McDonalds over anything "Mc...". Apple's been sued for others regarding its "i..." monikers, Microsoft was sued by some company in St. Louis over "Bing", and the list goes on.

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What bothers me most . . .
Aug 18, 2010 5:07AM PDT

This whole concept $ky/Skype assumes that people are idiots.

Trademark law -- you have vigilant from the very beginning. It seems that Murdoch didn't sue any other Sky name company. You can't pick or choose which company you want to sue or a request for a "cease and desist".

Murdock set a president that you can use $ky in company names. Skype will win, but only after Murdoch financially bullies Skype.

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More context...
Sep 7, 2010 10:34PM PDT

I decided to look into this a little more to see what was going on, and the trademark infringement suit was brought because Skype apparently wanted to start heading into TV ventures (which is Sky's business). Now it makes a little more sense.

Here's a snippet from a UK Telegraph story:

" "Sky is involved in a long-running dispute with Skype in relation to several trade mark applications filed by Skype, including, but not limited to, television-related goods and services," the spokesman said. "The key contention in the dispute is that the brands 'Sky' and 'Skype' will be considered confusingly similar by members of the public."

Sky said its concerns were supported by consumer research.

Last month, Sky's case for "trademark infringement" was upheld by the European Union's Office for Harmonisation of Internal Markets (OHIM), which ruled that Skype's trademark and its famous blue bubble logo were too similar to Sky's name and branding.

Skype has said it will appeal the ruling to the OHIM's board of appeal and the European Court of Justice, if necessary. If Skype losses [sic] it may be prevented from using the Skype name or logo, without a licence."

Obviously this EU office found some merit in the suit, so there's probably a lot more here than meets the eye than just the "Sky is too similar to Skype" argument. And keep in mind that if you don't live in an area where Sky operates, obviously you are going to think this is frivolous because Sky means nothing to you. But if you do live in an area that Sky serves, it could be a different story.

No, I'm not taking sides -- just pointing out that the headlines don't always tell the whole story. And in this case, since this European Union office thought enough to support Sky's claim, there's probably more context than the headlines suggest.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/7937549/Rupert-Murdoch-fights-to-take-the-sky-out-of-Skype.html

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This is an outrage!
Sep 7, 2010 1:45PM PDT

Sky and Skype are different words. This is plain outrage!