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Asterix and Mobilix Redux 238

Posted by michael from the cartoons-and-mobile-unix-are-nearly-the-same dept.
eguaj writes "I thought the "Obelix vs. Mobilix" case was over, and that the Mobilix web site had definitely won in the first instance, but this morning I saw this mail , on the linux-laptop mailing list, stating that 'Les Éditions Albert René' went into appeal and they managed to overturn the first decision, and now the Mobilix.org site will have to withdraw his domain name, pay the compensation fee, etc. Mobilix.org is a web site dedicated to Linux/Unix on mobile devices (laptop, pda, cell. phones), and they ruled that "Mobilix" was too much similar to "Obelix" and that people could take one for the other." For Americans: Asterix and Obelix are well-known French cartoon characters (think: Mickey and Goofy).
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Asterix and Mobilix Redux More

Asterix and Mobilix Redux

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  • Nice reference... That does sound like something Di$ney would do...

    • Re:Mickey and Goofy (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Mickey and Goofy - duh. Even if it is incredible sometimes and sounds like science fiction, there is intelligent life outside the US borders. The Web and Linux were developed outside the US, for one. And who are Mickey and Goofy?
    • Nice reference... That does sound like something Di$ney would do...

      Well, Les Éditions Albert René certainly has the 'goofy' part downpat. They must be a 'mickey mouse' outfit, to draw confusion between two such dissimilar names, further, the court has to be 'goofy' to issue such an opinion. I hate to think of such a fiasco in the US, but I amd sure someone could point me towards more than a few.

      If mobilix was a cartoon or comic, they might have a leg, though tenuous. If the comic or cartoon featured a small and large pair of characters looking like vikings and raiding england, the case would be pretty strong. But as it's a portal for mobile un*x and Asterix, nor Obelix are pushing information or handheld tools, I'm convinced the real confusion is in the court.

      • The funny thing is that the original creator of Asterix and Obelix characters died a while ago, and "Les Editions Albert René" was founded after his death IIRC.

        Of course, the one author remaining had a hard time making a buck for a while (sorry, Uderzo, you can't write. Get over it.). Then the recent movies put the cartoon back in tracks mostly because of overhype (though the second movie is at least funny).

        And now what ? A book editing company, founded after the death of the original writer, claims sites need to be put down because their soundex threshold is set too low ? How... modern.

        We should have been warned though... Obelix is a little bully and not that smart in the cartoon after all :)

  • M is far away from O (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Neophytus ( 642863 ) on Friday January 31, 2003 @11:24AM (#5196221)
    They can hardly be accused of typo-cybersquatting if the O is two rows up and a bit right from the M. Perhaps spoken errors could come into play, but this sounds like quite a petty case. And who the fuck would mistake a PDA site for a Cartoon site?

  • Crispix cereal too? and Epix too? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 31, 2003 @11:26AM (#5196239)
    How about Crispix cereal? Sounds too much like what would be the name of the guy in Asterix' village who always overcooks the roast boar.

    Epix image hosting on eBay? The lady in the village who needs to use an Epliady (not hard to find in any French village for that matter.

    Appendix? Can't use that one either. That is the guy who keeps trying to add extra verses to Cacaphonix's tales.

    Phoenix, Arizona? Better change your name, you copyright-violating town.

  • stupid laws (Score:3, Funny)

    by LinuxCumShot ( 582742 ) <lcs.rabien@com> on Friday January 31, 2003 @11:26AM (#5196240) Homepage Journal
    how long before they make us pry the '8' key off of all our keyboards?

  • Hostnames... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by dark-br ( 473115 )
    How long til they start bitching about hostnames? I guess im not the only one to use obelix.mydomain.com or asterix.mydomain.com.

    America, home of the free (and of DMCA, RIAA etc)

  • Mobile phone company (Score:5, Interesting)

    by virve ( 63803 ) on Friday January 31, 2003 @11:27AM (#5196253)
    But Mobilix [mobilix.dk] is (well, was) a mobile phone company around here. Owned by France Telecom as far as I recall. Now it is called Orange.

    Could this not have influence on this issue, i.e. that the name has been previously used without Obelix and his Gaul friends objecting?

    Just a thought!

    virve
    --
    • Here we have "Mobilux [mobilux.lu]"... Now really, while I like the comics of Asterix and Obelix this lawsuit is really stupid.
    • One thing I don't understand is related to your comment. The article says that there is a German children's furniture store by the same name, Mobilix. In Germany, the website is not in violation of trademark laws as the 2 entities operate in different trades. So how can 2 companies with 1 name in 2 different trades be allowed but not 2 different entities with 2 different (but similar) names in 2 different trades?

      Sounds to me like the US isn't the only place with a fucked up sense of legalism.

  • verdict by ability to pay (Score:4)

    by Alain Williams ( 2972 ) <addw@phcomp.co.uk> on Friday January 31, 2003 @11:28AM (#5196257) Homepage
    This just underlines the injustice of the courts. I suspect that it was as much decided on who knew who and who had the biggest pockets - always a big factor in a trial.

    Life would be much more pleasant if there were no lawyers.
    • >> Life would be much more pleasant if there were no lawyers.

      Correction: Life would be much more pleasant if people didn't hire lawyers for stupid selfish greedy reasons.

      The problem is not lawyers, the problem is the way that people use lawyers. Lawyers are but a tool. And a useful one, too, when you really need one.

      "Every tool is a weapon, if you hold it right." -- Ani DiFranco

  • Seems like it, since there is a string "goofy" in there..

  • No more unix !!!! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This sets a dangerous precedent. Next to be wiped out will be Unix, which sounds too similar to the name of the eunuch in the Asterix books. (We won't even talk about Linux, the guy with the blanket).

  • Mickey and Goofy? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DerPflanz ( 525793 ) <bart@@@friesoft...nl> on Friday January 31, 2003 @11:29AM (#5196268) Homepage
    Euh, nice comparison (not!). Mickey and Goofy are cool, I like them, but you can't possible compare them to Asterix and Obelix. FYI, it is a (apparently not so) well known fact that Asterix and Obelix have add more to the knowledge of classical history then classical education. A lot of things in the strip (not cartoon) are genuine. You can actually learn stuff from Asterix. So, I'd say go out and read some.
    • Not only that... You can actually get some Asterix and Obelix comics in Latin [asterix-obelix.nl]. I remind reading excerpts in my Latin classes. I actually have "Asterix Gallus". Really cool :-)

  • Just brew some magic potion (Score:5, Funny)

    by Vendekkai ( 121853 ) on Friday January 31, 2003 @11:30AM (#5196273)
    It's 2003 AD, and all the Internet is occupied by the powerful IP empire. All? No, a little village of indomitable freedom fighters still hold out, assisted by their druid Getafix's magic potion, freenet. [freenetproject.org]
    • Possibly so, but I won't be buying any more.

      I'm a but dubious about the practical effects of boycotting, but when that's the only available action, that's what I do.

      I belong to a rather strange religion, paying to watch movies by an MPAA member studio is a sin. Paying for RIAA approved music is a sin. And now there are even comic books that I can neither buy nor resell. But these are freely choosen self-imposed obligations. I don't expect others to adhere to my peculiar sect. But you might consider that I find it has rewards.

    • Look, if you're going to use it for your petty Emacs vs Vi, Linux vs BSD nonsense, you can forget about druidic brew for a long time.

      On the other hand, if you're going to use it for taking over the MPAA, or Microsoft... Just let me gather some mistletoe...

  • given that reasoning Felix the cat is net?

  • This is as bad as the legal case the Russian gov is bringing up that the Russian premier looks like that that wrinkly little fart Doddy in Harry Potter! Just bears out the old joke. What do you call a dead layer? A good start.
  • What about asterisk.org, the opensource PBX, isn't it VERY similar to Asterisk's trademark ?

    How can they not sue them ? It's not even similar, it's the same ! People can get much more confused.
    • What about Obelisk ? obelisk n. 1. A tall, four-sided shaft of stone, usually tapered and monolithic, that rises to a pointed pyramidal top. 2. Printing. The dagger sign (), used especially as a reference mark. Also called dagger, obelus. From http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=obelisk&r =3 BTW do a whois obelisk.org ...
  • Obelix vs. Mobilix, Windows vs. Lindows, ... I guess we can expect cases like Equator vs. Equador now. (Or New York vs. York, Slovenia vs. Slovakia, Washington state vs. Washington DC, Indians vs. Indians, ...)

    Whatever, why not?

  • Go to Russia (Score:3, Interesting)

    by samjam ( 256347 ) on Friday January 31, 2003 @11:32AM (#5196301) Homepage Journal
    Withdraw the domain name? French don't control the .org registry I think; all they need to do is sell the domain name for a nominal amount "to help them recover legal costs" to someone not based in France who will continue to host the service.

    Why should the French care? What if Obelix was similar to an ancient mythical Hindu character (to pick an unlikely case at random) that's been around a lot longer; it would be foolish to suggest Obelix stop being used if that occurs; (especially as far as I can tell Obelix is a play on Obelisk (those Menhir things he makes)).

    By this argument Mobilix should be left alone even if it is similar, and who cares if the French get confused, what about the rest of the world. Will we stop everything if we can find one nation that has some citizens that might confused by it?

    An offender because of a word indeed!

    Sam
    • It's a play on the Latin word for our english "Obelisk", just like "Asterix" is a play on "Aster", the star.

      There are other characters with other similar latinate names, as the show is a cartoon that also intends to teach classical history - it gets reprinted in almost (maybe "more than"?) a dozen languages and actually gets used in Latin classes in the states.

    • Re:Go to Russia (Score:4, Informative)

      by bartjan ( 197895 ) <bartjan&vrielink,net> on Friday January 31, 2003 @12:00PM (#5196492) Homepage
      This is not a case in France, but one in Germany, started by a german lawyer against a german company.
  • Sometimes you just have to be ashamed of your compatriots. Funnily enough, the owners of the Asterix & Obelix trademark didn't try anything against the french spatial agency when it named one of its first commercial space rockets after the comic book hero (that was in the 60s, IIRC)
    • Why is it that each time some American company does something wrong, nobody says the Americans this or the Americans that? But when a French or German or whatever company is involved, then everyone complains about the French or German or whatever.

      You should grow up.

      • Why is it that each time some American company does something wrong, nobody says the Americans this or the Americans that?

        Actually, they do. You haven't been listening hard enough.

      • This is alas always the case when you are a member of a minority, whenever an arab, or a black, or whatever minority there is in a country does something wrong, people always say (or most of the time think) ah those arabs, or those blacks, or whatever ! maybe this what we call racism. You need to judge peope one by one, whether they did good or bad according to their own personality and not according to their ethnic origin.

  • For Americans... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jdreed1024 ( 443938 ) on Friday January 31, 2003 @11:37AM (#5196340)
    For Americans: Asterix and Obelix are well-known French cartoon characters (think: Mickey and Goofy).

    Only a hell of a lot funnier than that stupid mouse and dog. I'd say a better comparison is Homer and Bart. Mickey and Goofy start to lose their humor once you reach a certain age. Asterix works on so many more levels...

  • AT&T to Webster (Score:3, Funny)

    by Infamous Tim ( 513490 ) on Friday January 31, 2003 @11:38AM (#5196345)
    Sent via: Via Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested
    Re: Re: Infringements of AT&T Copyrights and Trademarks

    I write as attorney for AT&T Telecommuncations Corporation.

    As you are, no doubt, aware, AT&T owns the rights to ATT, AT&T, or anything relating to or sounding vaguely like the phoenetic sound of "at." These rights are protected by numerous copyrights trademarks.

    We have recently learned that you have have been using the words "at", "attack", "attachment", and any and all words beginning with "AT" in your book entitle the "Dictionary" Your addition of these items in your book is an infringement of AT&T's rights.

    Based upon the foregoing, we hereby demand that your confirm to us in writing within ten days of receipt of this letter that: (i) you have removed all infringing materials from your book; and (ii) you will refrain from adding any similar infringing material in the future.

    The foregoing is without waiver of any and all rights of AT&T Telecommunications Corporation, all of which are expressly reserved herein.

    Very truly yours,

    [Attorney]

    • Obviously, later this Attorney will get sued by another attorney representing AT&T, who will later get sued by another another attorney representing AT&T...

      Wait, recursion wasn't, ah, invented, in AT&T Bell Labs, were they?

  • The dude should fold, and change the project name to "Oh Bell Icks", just out of pure bloodymindedness.
    "That different enough for you, huh? Huh?"
  • ... they've drunk tooooo much magic potion.
  • they can't even understand spelling and pronounciation.

    Mobilix, with an i in the middle. Like fish, chips, wit.

    Obelix, with an e in the middle. Like wretch, bench,wench.

    They're not the same. They're not even that similar. How did they win? Did they manage to get a deaf judge or something?
    • they can't even understand spelling and pronounciation.
      Mobilix, with an i in the middle. Like fish, chips, wit.
      Obelix, with an e in the middle. Like wretch, bench,wench.

      The sounds you're talking about are in unstressed syllables and thus, in both English and French, are schwas [m-w.com]. Therefore they sound basically alike. There are reason for finding the decision dumb but this isn't one of them.

  • Onward to France! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Cruciform ( 42896 ) on Friday January 31, 2003 @11:49AM (#5196411) Homepage
    If we Slashdot them, they'll surrender!
  • My real name happens to be Joel West. Now do a google search on "Joel West". If he (the CK model) ever wants the domain I'm toast aparently. Even though I've been using the domain legitimately, and yes my site is lame.

    The point is that I only ever heard of this fellow by doing a google search. So who wins? I can't afford a lawyer especially in USD. I have no choice but to surrender. Ah well...

  • In Denmark we up until recently had a major mobile-phone provider with the name Mobilix [mobilix.dk]. They have now switched their name to the more international Orange, but I never heard of them having any problems arising from their usage of a name that could have been taken from the Asterix-comic. This is even more peculiar, as they probably must have intended for the association to be made: Asterix is quite famous in Denmark, and the company constantly played on its French ancestry.
  • TNN.com has been told that they are far too close phonetically to CNN.com. Said Judge Robert Rheinhold "All those N's... way too confusing." TNN was ordered to avoid using N's in the future.
  • (think: Mickey and Goofy)

    You mean as in "large oppressive media companies" and "crazy, ridiculous, or ludicrous"?
  • Yeah, right. Maybe if Mickey and Goofy were alcholic, steroid-taking, gluttons who liked to bash Romans. I think that Asterix and Obelix serve a much different audience than Micky and Goofy. It's more like Looney Tunes, with historical undertones and more puns than anyone should have to bear. I'm proud to own the complete set.
  • Interesting they go after the small, relatively unknown person, rather than the big hulking brand with enough money to spend on Lawyers to make this case stand out as the stupidity that it is!
    If they'd taken on Weetabix [weetabix.com] (that well known breakfast cereal), I'd have perhaps thought they were actually trying to be serious about things (like keeping everything with an 'ix' suffix in their control)..
    However, it's a case of hit on the small guy and be a bully..
    That's the last Asterix book I read!
    Or buy for anyone else..

    Malk


  • In a related story, Hans Blix has filed a lawsuit against France seeking a bottle of Nix head lice remover, a Twix bar, and a big bowl of kid-tested mother-approved Kix cereal in damages. When asked for his reason for suing the unpleasantly fragrant nation, Blix replied, "I'm a jelly-filled donut."

    Saying that "Asterix" and "Mobilix" are too much alike is like saying Sylvester Stallone bares a striking resemblence to a 55-gal drum of pickled herring.

    Oh wait. Hrm...

  • ogeefy.com (Score:2, Insightful)

    by soegoe ( 580877 )
    (think: Mickey and Goofy).

    So, the owner of a hypothetical site www.ogeefy.com could be sued by Disney, and they'd win?! I can't believe that.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • All names in Asterix and Obelix resemble real word (Score:5, Insightful)

    by StefMeister ( 219044 ) on Friday January 31, 2003 @12:08PM (#5196543)
    This is actually quite ironic since allmost all names in the Asterix comic series are derived from real words (in French). Asterix comes from 'asterisque' (the * character), Obelix from 'obelisque' (a vertical monument, like a pillar), idefix (the dog) from 'idée fixe' (difficult to translate, something like an unchangeable opinion), assurancetourix (the chief IIRC) from 'assurance touts risques' (an insurance for all damages), etc ...

    And now they sue somebody cause a word they use looks like one of the names of their characters. It would be funny if it wasn't so stupid.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • When the stories were translated into English, they changed some of the names -- asterisk and obelisk are valid English words too, so they stayed the same, but many of the other characters got renamed so the (awful) puns would still work. For example:

      Vitalstatistx was the (rather fat) chief of the village.

      Dogmatix was Asterix's dog.

      Unhygenix was the village fishmonger.

      Fullyautomatix was the village blacksmith.

      ... and this one I didn't understand for years ...

      Getafix was the village druid (who cooked up the magic potion for our heroes).

      Lots more names, but those are the main ones that changed in English, I believe.

    • Actually... (Score:2, Informative)

      by PeDRoRist ( 639207 )
      ...assurancetourix (the chief IIRC)...
      Actually, Assurancetourix is the lame bard, always trying to sing, and always knocked out by the blacksmith, Cetautomatix ("C'est automatique": That's automatic), before he gets a chance to. The Chief is named Abraracourcix, which is derived from a french idiomatic expression ("A bras raccourcis") meaning "violently" (as in attacking someone violently). A possible word by word translation would be "with shortened arms", which means nothing, and is completely off-topic
      • I'm amazed how they do this! I'm only read them in English, but always wondered how they could possibly have translated them -- they were too good! Dogmatix, Cocafonix, Fulliautomatix, are remarkable in that they translate in two ways.

        Some like Vitalstatistix or Getafix couldn't be properly translated, so they came up with new appropriate ones.

        Now if they would just lay off the IP issues....

        • cacofonix couldn't be translated either... But What an excellent series the Asterix books are...

          Is it just me, but does Asterix get his name because he is the star of the stories?

          Z.

    • 'idée fixe' (difficult to translate, something like an unchangeable opinion)

      The usual "translation" is just to cite the phrase in French; it usually implies more than an unchangeable opinion, rather one that is also almost obsessive.

      • > idée fixe' (difficult to translate, something like an unchangeable opinion)

        The usual "translation" is just to cite the phrase in French; it usually implies more than an unchangeable opinion, rather one that is also almost obsessive.

        This is why the English translation is Dogmatix. Dogmatic [m-w.com] defined as "positiveness in assertion of opinion especially when unwarranted or arrogant". But then you all already knew this.
  • for when they go after Oblix? [oblix.com]
  • Additional information for USians not familiar with france, this website [franceisoc...ermany.org] and see this article [blogspot.com] for more french military history.

  • Address here (Score:3, Interesting)

    by KjetilK ( 186133 ) <kjetil AT kjernsmo DOT net> on Friday January 31, 2003 @12:30PM (#5196723) Homepage Journal
    Oh well...

    Asterix has always been among my favorites. I have all the albums, and I started collecting when I was 8 years old. It is a great cartoon, and there is even a story about how money corrupts, in which the Romans send in a guy to buy all the bautas the Gauls can produce. Obelix makes bautas, and suddenly the village gets industrialized, the villagers get rich and things start going really wrong.....

    They should start reading Asterix too.

    I found this e-mail address: contact@albert-rene.com

    I told them I would never buy an album again unless they drop this suit immediately.

    • in which the Romans send in a guy to buy all the bautas the Gauls can produce. Obelix makes bautas, and suddenly the village gets industrialized, the villagers get rich and things start going really wrong.....

      That would be Obelix and Co becoming rich by selling menhirs in the British version.

  • Contact info (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Sebby ( 238625 ) on Friday January 31, 2003 @12:33PM (#5196752)
    Tell the publisher what you think of this. Suggest a better behavior on their part:

    info@asterix.tm.fr

    "The ironing is delicious" - Bart Simpson

  • Makes Perfect Sense (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MrResistor ( 120588 ) <.peterahoff. .at. .gmail.com.> on Friday January 31, 2003 @12:34PM (#5196757) Homepage
    I can totally see how a mobile phone could be mistaken for a good natured fat guy who likes to beat up romans and eat wild boar.

    </sarcasm>

    When will the insanity end? Mobilix, despite being in a totally different market, gets the shaft, but Lindows, which was intentionally named in order to draw in Windows customers, is OK?

  • Trademarks are going to get pretty difficult if simply rhyming with an existing trademark is going to count as an infringement. I don't know about French, but a quick Perl script chewing on CMU's pronouncing dictionary reveals only a couple dozen single-syllable endings to English words, and only a few hundred two-syllable endings.

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