This is what happens when bullies grow up without being straightened out. Wives and children beaten and abused by a person who they should be able to trust absolutely. Life-saving medicines being priced at ridiculously unaffordable rates. Businesses driven out of business by vicious monopolists. The ironic thing about it, though, is the way adult bullying leads to lives literally, not hyperbolically, being ruined. Well, this is what happens when bullies do not “get their lives ruined.” They grow up learning that they can get away with it. Techdirt has repeatedly criticized proposals for laws against bullying in schools, particularly of the cyber- variety, on the premise that the proposed penalties would ruin the bullies’ lives. Yes, because that’s what they learned as kids. Don’t be fooled by the settlement into thinking it was just.įiled Under: trademark, trademark bullying, viceversa By virtue of its size, Vice Media was able to work its will on a small indie punk band just because it could. In other words: since Vice Media’s claims were total bullshit, giving up on any part of those claims isn’t a concession, whereas the band’s concessions were minor but very real.īullying works, in other words. ![]() Nothing in the band’s original trademark application would have covered anything that would have confused any customers anywhere that an indie punk band was somehow also part of Vice Media. The claim that the band’s name was infringing in any way was not a valid claim, so the band’s continued use of it is not a concession by Vice Media. After all, even if we assume that there was no monetary requirement for this settlement, even if we recognize that the band will be able to continue using its name, and even if the only minor changes were needed to the band’s trademark paperwork to keep it as narrow as possible…what did Vice Media give up as part of this “settlement?” And it’s not difficult to understand why that disdain would be there. If you can’t hear the disdain dripping in that statement, your brain needs a tune up. ViceVersa will continue using their name and logo as they please and Vice Media will go about their $2.5 billion business.” Changes have been made to the band’s trademark details as registered with the USPTO, thus narrowing the scope of their services. In a statement, ViceVersa’s lawyer wrote: “After a few weeks of negotiations, the two parties have come to an amicable agreement. ![]() Check out the band’s statement through its lawyer. ![]() This is where most of the folks reading this news will breathe a sigh of relief that sanity has been reached and everyone has walked away from this whole thing amicably and whole. Reached for comment, a Vice spokesperson said: “We’re glad this worked out for both parties, and we wish the band the best of luck.” Today, both parties reached a settlement over the trademark dispute. Which brings us to the present, where we learn the good news that Vice Media has settled with the band over the dispute. Neither of those claims was remotely true, but they bullied in the way that only bullies can. ![]() At issue, according to Vice Media, was the band’s name and trademark application, both of which the media company declared would damage its own brand and confuse customers. Thu, Jun 16th 2016 03:52pm - Timothy GeignerĪ while back, we wrote about the hilariously bullying cease and desist notice Vice Media, a billion dollar media company, sent to ViceVersa, an un-signed punk band.
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