The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


When Democracy Acts Like Dictatorship …
August 17, 2010, 6:06 am
Filed under: Comment

So SKY broadcasting have been suing SKYPE for the last 5 years because they have the word ‘sky’ in their name.

No, that’s not a joke.

Apparently SKY Broadcasting claimed their customers may have gotten confused and not realised they were dealing with a completely different company.

Given SKYPE have created a product that is genuinely beneficial to their users and doesn’t try to extort every single dime from their wallet, I doubt any confusion would have occurred but in another example of big business triumphing over the little guy, they’ve won.

Yep, that’s right, SKY Broadcasting won.

Let’s be honest, even though SKY supposedly have ‘proof’ that people were confused between SKY/ SKYPE they reality is that is about as likely as people thinking the British Government and British Airways are one and the same.

[though given the way both of them are managing their business, maybe that’s not the best example]

This legal battle had nothing to do with confusion, it had everything to do with pettiness, ego and – given SKYPE’s interest in streaming television – fear.

Whilst SKYPE are, quite rightly, appealing – the fact the original judgement was ruled in Murdoch’s favour just highlights why so many people have so little faith in common sense, justice and government – which is why if this ruling is maintained, then it not only signals a shift in the meaning of freedom of trade, it also means the people on the Isle of Skye should be shitting themselves.


23 Comments so far
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fuck me i like this post but that could be because i fucking hate that aussie money sucking bastard even more than planners or a fucking u and i cant fucking stand them. are coke going to sue any bastard that has name with the letters c o k e in them? theyve fucking tried to copyright their fucking red so i wouldnt be surprised. nothing better to do these fuckwits. shareholders should be afuckingshamed of themselves but then if they have invested their blood diamond money with the myspace twat they have no fucking shame anyway.

Comment by andy@cynic

That’s pathetic. Corporate bullying at it’s worst and the fact they won the case makes me even more angry. As Andy said, where will it end? Will we see Yamaha’s motorbike division take action against their piano division or maybe Toyota will sue Toys R Us.

Maybe Murdoch’s shareholders should be taking action against Murdoch after sinking US$600 million into Myspace that is as relevant as Murdoch talking about values and morals.

Comment by Pete

fuck me i think weve found petes nasty button and there i was thinking you were the reincarnation of mother fucking teresa. though your face looks like it was given a semi decent ironing before being let out to the outside world.

Comment by andy@cynic

But Murdoch gives you slimeys page 3 so he can’t be all bad.

Comment by Billy Whizz

have you seen the state of them recently? hes definitely fucking evil.

Comment by andy@cynic

Rupert maintaining his reputation I see.

Comment by Bazza

If Andy makes a serious comment [well, seriousish] then it must be a petty/bully move by Murdoch’s boys.

Not only does this story show how money has an incredible influence over judicial decisions, but also how daft some research can be. 😉

Comment by Rob

I was going to say… I’d love to see how fucking leading that (so called) research methodology was. This is so dumb.

Comment by Age

The day the web was won.

Comment by Marcus

Oh dear.

Comment by Rob

Preposterous
On another notem have you noticed how Murdoch is starting to resemble Yoghurt from Spaceballs?
http://tinyurl.com/3256fah

Comment by northern

A frivolous action, as m’learned friends would say.

Is it not worse that News Intl have damaged Skype’s reputation by associating them with a provider of tediously mainstream satellite television?

Comment by Chris

I’ve stated before how terrible I think this is. A surefire way of turning customers against a brand over absolute pettiness. Some lawyer or consultant who started this deserves a good kicking.

Next up Red Sky crisps, then online retailer Laskys…

As if we didn’t have enough reasons to hate Rupert Murdoch.

Comment by Rob Mortimer

The thing I find interesting is like Gordon Gekko, there are people in industry who think this behaviour is cool and something to look up to.

Explains a lot but about what, I’m not so sure.

Comment by Rob

About how greed and self interest is a bigger driver than honesty and fairness to some people.

Comment by Rob Mortimer

companies like skype, and method (who also got sued by clorox over the use of a daisy) should just make a child a CEO, or a granny, or a dog with glasses.

this way, you get the pr ready for a backlash..”SKY files lawsuit against 4 year old”

might seem trivial, but if 4chan can bring the stock down of Apple by spreading the rumour that Jobs was ill or worse, the public opinion can sway/impact bottom lines and shareholders…

fighting in the shadows is playing by their rules.

Cause biggest trumpcard of SKY is the apathy of the consumer/citizen, not their money and lawyers

or something

Comment by niko

you evil fuck niko. i like it except a real fucking 4 year old would have more sense than most companies ancient fucking ceos who can only grow through building barriers than doing something fucking magic.

Comment by andy@cynic

(Pardon my language peeps)

Yes, but Rupert Murdoch being a cunt is hardly new news is it.

Comment by Rob Mortimer

oi mortimer, the c word is fucking banned on here for mrs c. youre in more shit than murdoch when campbell finally stops doing whatever the fuck it is he does and sees this.

but youre right though he is going through a purple patch of bastardness at the moment.

Comment by andy@cynic

Is it? To be fair though, it’s hard to talk about the withered right wing nutjob for too long without using it…

Sorry Mrs C!

Comment by Rob Mortimer

oh ropey murdoch. clearly you’re regretting discarding your australian citizenship and hoping that this act of moronic ‘leadership’ will ingratiate you with the idiots in charge back home. sadly it’s probably working.

Comment by lauren

i fucking love it when you talk bitchy lauren.

Comment by andy@cynic

you ain’t seen the half of it.

Comment by lauren




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