Copyright of images and trademarks can be hinky... at what point is something in the public domain enough that a brand isn't compromised? For example, the word Kleenex™ is listedn in all the style manuals as only to be used as a brand name, with the trademark symbol. Otherwise, it's 'tissue'. It's crazy - in the US, Kleenex™ has become as common a term for a tissue as "xerox' has for photocopying or 'band-aid' has for a self-adhesive bandage strip.

In fact, all intellectual property issues are hinky - the creator wants to protect his/her creation, but also wants that creation to be in the public eye.  In the US, you have all sorts of cases where two businesses have the same names but do different things or are in different parts of the country; at what point does it not affect business A to share a name with business B? Or for two bands (how many crappy local bands were named Paradox when you were in high school? Yeah, we had three in our area).

And then you get to the whole 'fair use' issue. Disney is a total bitch about its characters even being used for free, no less pay items. Other companies don't care.

It's all terribly pear-shaped, really. I don't think Birgit should be advertising her stuff as "ikea", but I could see her saying "inspired by ikea" and getting away with it.

hee hee...excellent!

Reflex did that tub a year ago. And sold it, in the Pearl bedroom set. What's the real issue - that they called the stuff Ikea and are charging for it, or because they are fake-copyrighting their stuff, or because you got caught sharing it because we didn't know they used TSR's system?

Or worse, like these teen twits: http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2008/05/30

They should have. perhaps no one notified Krispy Kreme while Heather's shit was still pay?

This is why we recommend everyone use Certified Booty Content - Pescadoized for your protection.

And of COURSE the Twats are using the same system TSR does. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Thomas gave them the system or they do it through the TSR servers. What blows my mind is that Thomas KNOWS we can eat the tokens, so he must have realized it wouldn't take us long to figure out the Twats are using it too. I suspect one or two subs will get killed off because of it, but in the long run, we will solve it.

Edited to remove grammasite.

Dina, at least you did see the light! I suppose we have you to thank, then, for the inspriation. Just think -  in just 18 months we've gone from making a crude joke to people thinking that's really her name!

As far as why Thomas thought you were one of us early on, I've no idea. Maybe the fact that you posted here, despite being clearly pro-TSR at the time, was just too much for him? Secret agendas and all that...

:::raises hand::::  GUILTY!

I dont' recall the thread where I first used it, but I had used it in staff chat, and kinda on a dare, I changed her folder's name in the booty. Gosh, that had to be a year ago.

Edit: Apparently, the first public useage of "Atwat" occured here:  http://phorum.mustnotbenamed.com/index.php/topic,192.msg45649.html#msg45649  ...and there were a few other usages of it before I changed the booty folder name in May 2007.

We need Sherrie to post again the photos of Atwat...she's most definitely a woman at least in her 40s, by all accounts.

OMG...that's bad. I mean, BAAAD.

Hey Diet of Worms! I found our Contest Winner! (Oh wait, does the original creator count? LOL)

You almost get this sense that something will bust open soon - you know, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I hope some of the smarter FAs call Thomas on this.

::::gets the popcorn and Milk Duds ready::::

Actually, my cats are not painters as much as they are mixed-media artists. Chelsea particularly likes to sculpt - her prefered medium is upholstery. Shea also does performance art; he is currently doing 2am showings of "If I cry loud enough you will come watch me do my bunny imitation." My previous cat, Duiffie, was the improvisational painter - he would take advantage of my own paints. I'm pretty sure paint is as bad for cats as it is for humans; however, most watercolors, acryllics, and latex paints aren't toxic in small doses. Duffie, for some odd reason, was not deterred from painting by the baths he'd receive (although that might have something to do with the walnut-sized brain).


Try the word 'word' sometime.

I should have.

There's a wonderful book, published probably 20 years ago, called Why Cats Paint: A Theory of Feline Asthetics...it's developed into an online museum, found here. I once copied photos from the book and put them in frames to decorate my office; I loved watching the double-takes as visitors realized what the pictures were really of...

Busch and Silver are also the creators of the Japanese erotic art form of Kokigami.

No babies. Kittehs. Oh, and they're artists.

Chelsea (she-cat; most recent work: "Inside Snow"  Kleenex on hardwood)


Shea (he-cat; most recent work: "Nature is Everywhere" petunias on wool carpeting)

Every time I see the subject line of this thread, I think of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOdjCb4LwQY