Forum Moderators: open
Google's operating system is called Android and its new phone, unveiled to hysteria rather than hisses Tuesday, is called Nexus One. Might the idea for these names have been spawned by a Google Book Club reading of Dick?
"We feel this is a clear infringement of our intellectual-property rights," Isa Dick Hackett, a daughter of Phillip K. Dick told the Journal.
Full story here. [news.cnet.com]
Google is the connection point, the "tie" for many people on the internet. It seems like a natural move to name the phone Nexus and Nexus One as it being the first.
Maybe the team did get some ideas from the book but certainly the book did not drive the technology nor the intellectual property associated with the phone. But if we look at the open handset alliance [openhandsetalliance.com] it's clear that it's not just a google "thang".
I don't want to confuse the whole intellectual-property issue with the technology of the phone but it doesn't even seem to come close to a legal case. This is so absurd that the phone is already referenced in Wikipedia from a NY Times article on Dec 21, 2009.
IMHO - The bigger the wallet, the greater the chance of lawsuits filed for nonsensical minutia.
Sorry, but the origin of "nexus" predates Dick by several hundred years. Was the term "Nexus 6" ever copyrighted by Dick or his estate? Not that I can see. Dick used the word "the" in his writings. Does that mean no one can ever use "the" in a brand name?
This is definitely an instance where I would love to see the initiator of the suit given a massive fine for wasting the court's time for such a frivolous lawsuit.
