Sonia Rao , The Washington Post; Disney trademarked ‘Hakuna Matata.’ A new petition demands the company drop it.
"The company has received similar criticism before."
Issues and developments related to IP, AI, and OM, examined in the IP and tech ethics graduate courses I teach at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. My Bloomsbury book "Ethics, Information, and Technology", coming in Summer 2025, includes major chapters on IP, AI, OM, and other emerging technologies (IoT, drones, robots, autonomous vehicles, VR/AR). Kip Currier, PhD, JD
Showing posts with label ethics of trademarking phrases. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethics of trademarking phrases. Show all posts
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Hakuna Matata™? Can Disney Actually Trademark That?; The New York Times, December 20, 2018
Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, The New York Times; Hakuna Matata™? Can Disney Actually Trademark That?
"Trademark experts said the talk of
colonialism and robbery was overwrought, and that the trademarking of
phrases, particularly those from other languages, is commonplace.
“People talk about appropriation,” said Phillip Johnson,
a professor of commercial law at Cardiff Law School in Wales and a
specialist on intellectual property law, “but a trademark is all about
appropriation of language within a narrow commercial sphere, outside
that space people are free to use the language as they wish.”
“What’s
difficult about this case is whether it was a sensible commercial
decision for the Disney brand, rather than whether, legally, the mark
should or should not be registered,” he added. “The question is, does
their brand benefit from having trademark or does it get damaged from
bad publicity from having that trademark?”"
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