Why not copywrite 'Windows 2050', or something else equally predictable? Imagine the pleasure you would give your descendants as they receive big wonga from Microsoft! How good would it have been if your forefathers in the 17th Century had copywrited names such as 'The USSR', 'Apollo 13', 'Euro 2000' or 'Superman 3'? You'd be rolling in cash, wouldn't you? Feeling a bit benevolent, then? This could be the ultimate gift!
(Hey, this is actually a really old idea, isn't it? Dang)-- gizmo_man, Jun 26 2002 Intellectual Property http://www.jurisnotes.com/02.htmincludes the "21st Century Fox" case about 1/3 of the way down. [st3f, Jun 26 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004] Yup. It's old. Very old. And I think you're talking about registering trade-marks not copyright.
There's also the problem of it not reliably working. The law is flexible and will slowly move to close loopholes such as this. Since this would generally be a long-term investment the chance of it still being yours several years down the line would be questionable. See link for the "21st Century Fox" case as well as other similar examples.-- st3f, Jun 26 2002 Plus, when the Revolution finally comes, everyone who is associated with WIndows or any Windows-related product will be hunted down, given a fair trial, and then summarily shot .....-- 8th of 7, Jun 26 2002 Companies would've just used different, available names.
8th, let's hope the revolution never comes, then.-- waugsqueke, Jun 26 2002 Why it won't work:
Titles and slogans aren't copyrightable in themselves, as copyright protects expression and a single sentence or phrase is insufficiently expressive.
A trademark protects a specific name used in trade. It must be linked to an actual product (or a future one via an intent-to-use application), and only protects the name when used in conjunction with the product or similar products. (Hence, Apple Computer doesn't infringe Apple Records' trademark.) You'd have to actually produce something called "Windows 2050"--which you couldn't do if it was in the computer field because of the likelihood of confusion with Microsoft's existing trademarks.
Finally, even if it were the case, it wouldn't work because the company would just choose another name.-- bookworm, Jun 26 2002 Are you guys a bunch of lawyers or something?-- gizmo_man, Jun 27 2002 Some of us are, yes. (Not me though.) Some of us are accountancy professionals (not me though), and some of us are engineers (not me though).-- angel, Jun 27 2002 I'm hanging out with accountants?!? That pathetic fizzz-pop you just heard was my ego committing suicide...-- RayfordSteele, Jun 27 2002 RayfordSteel: Stay calm. It's all part of the plan. The Accountants are also on the list for when the Revolution comes (although quite a long way down, after politicians, lawyers, overpaid professional sportsmen, overpaid professional sports commentators, and the man who thought up the idea of Muzak On Hold). Just keep lulling them into a false sense of security. Our time will come.
PS Plese exskuse me riting in grene crayon, they wont let us hav sharpe objekts in heer-- 8th of 7, Jun 27 2002 Some of us work at Sainsbury's, that'd be me incase you were wondering.-- kaz, Jun 27 2002 Baked (in a way)... Fox never become 21st century Fox because some guy registered it as a trade mark for a few dollers... he asked Fox for much much much (as you suggest)... they said "No"... ... and anyway... There is no certainty that Win2k5d would come out, they don't release one every year... and in case you didn't notice... they've broken the trend in the last few years... actually.. there WASN'T a trend to begin with... DOS... Windows... Window 2-3 (and the rest)... Windows 95... Windows 98... Windows ME... Windows XP... (If we're talking about the home os')-- Ossalisc, Feb 26 2004 By your reasoning, the ancient Arabians should get paid huge for having invented glass "Windows", then. It's just too bad they aren't around anymore to profit from this copyright infringement. Hehehehe, another one in the bag for the big BG! Hey, wait a second, wasn't the BG's a band name in the '80s before Bill Gates became famous!? Hehehehe, another one in the bag for Bill Gates! --- quantum_flux, Dec 24 2007 Why not trademark a name you know they'll need, like "Vista Service Pack 18".-- phundug, Dec 26 2007 random, halfbakery