Seven-year-old boy denied passport by UK Home office over Star Wars copyright infringement for Skywalker name | Malay Mail (www.malaymail.com)
from fne8w2ah@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 11:09
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MediaBiasFactChecker@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 11:09 next collapse
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https://www.malaymail.com/news/life/2024/09/21/seven-year-old-boy-denied-passport-by-uk-home-office-over-star-wars-copyright-infringement-for-skywalker-name/151183

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gnomesaiyan@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 11:27 next collapse

Why would you do that to your child? I mean, you wanna change your own name, go for it.

Hydra_Fk@reddthat.com on 22 Sep 2024 11:36 next collapse

You are making a lot of assumptions about this childs parents. Starting with they had a concept of a plan to begin with.

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca on 22 Sep 2024 15:03 collapse

concept of a plan

Are we talking about the weekly updates on Trumps healthcare plan? Look: he’ll get a plan and we’ll like it. There’s no need to keep nagging him every year.

Hydra_Fk@reddthat.com on 22 Sep 2024 15:20 collapse

Well I can safely assume trump was dumb enough not to plan the birth of his children, it was like a personal Vietnam.

rumschlumpel@feddit.org on 22 Sep 2024 11:48 next collapse

The only thing that’s stupid about this IMO is that Skywalker is supposed to be a last name, not a first/given name.

JWBananas@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 12:00 next collapse

Just like Tiffany and countless other surnames. Things change.

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 14:29 collapse

Is that you, Richard Tiffany Gere?

octopus_ink@lemmy.ml on 22 Sep 2024 12:01 next collapse

I’d say if you are appropriating a name from a fictional character for your child (which seems an odd choice, but which I think people should be able to do) it probably doesn’t matter much whether you take further creative liberties with it in that way.

atzanteol@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2024 12:39 next collapse

Last names are often used as first names.

It’s his middle name. His first name is Loki.

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca on 22 Sep 2024 15:08 collapse
Kaboom@reddthat.com on 22 Sep 2024 12:11 next collapse

Should have named him Luke. It’s a perfectly normal name, it’d fly under the radar. But youd still have named him after him.

CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 19:26 collapse

Seems like that should be flagged for copyright infringement as well.

Hikermick@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 12:16 next collapse

Nowadays naming your kid is a way to make a statement about yourself. Like a vanity plate.

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca on 22 Sep 2024 15:02 collapse

yourself. Like a vanity plate.

You had me at Vanity and Yourself. That really encapsulates the impression.

atzanteol@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2024 12:40 next collapse

It’s the middle name at least.

gedaliyah@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 13:47 collapse

People have been choosing made up names from fiction for hundreds (thousands?) of years and as far I know, no one has died from it yet. Jessica is just a character from a play.

CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 19:24 collapse

I get the sentiment but “Loki Skywalker” and “Jessica” are far from comparable even if Jessica would have been viewed in the same light 500 years ago.

DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social on 22 Sep 2024 21:24 collapse

If Luke hadn’t run from responsibility in tertiary canon it’d be fine but honestly it’s just a bad combination in terms of nominative determinism.

lurch@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2024 11:35 next collapse

Isn’t copyright just for commercial use? Is that different in Britain?

rumschlumpel@feddit.org on 22 Sep 2024 11:47 next collapse

He says his son was eventually issued the passport and the family’s vacation is still on.

vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 22 Sep 2024 12:17 collapse

That’s not how copyright works anywhere. Read the Berne convention.

then_three_more@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 11:47 next collapse

He says his son was eventually issued the passport and the family’s vacation is still on.

Sounds to me like someone so the passport office was just being an idiot and when their supervisor looked into it it was resolved.

Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2024 11:54 collapse

Government employee makes mistake, other employee corrects mistake, innocent family suffers minor inconvenience. Stay tuned for more.

kamenlady@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 12:22 next collapse

Omg, i hope they are all ok. This must have been so traumatizing for all involved. I can’t even

Reverendender@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2024 14:41 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/296aa480-3f94-4a87-b2c6-4747ee7931ee.gif">

BlackLaZoR@fedia.io on 22 Sep 2024 12:50 collapse

Don't forget to be outraged!

rumschlumpel@feddit.org on 22 Sep 2024 11:47 next collapse

He [the father] says his son was eventually issued the passport and the family’s vacation is still on.

Sounds like that office doesn’t know how their own rules work.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 11:49 next collapse

Well my kid Coca-Cola Disney Unilever Squid is fucked.

SARGE@startrek.website on 22 Sep 2024 13:10 next collapse

Come on, Flying… You knew that the minute you named them Coca-Cola Disney Unilever.

I mean can you just imagine the teasing we would have heard on the playground with “cola”? Everyone knows colas are the lowest soft drink.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 13:12 collapse

That’s why they go by Unilever.

01189998819991197253@infosec.pub on 22 Sep 2024 13:44 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://infosec.pub/pictrs/image/b5cd375a-a7f3-420e-b80a-32da189c20f4.jpeg">

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca on 22 Sep 2024 15:01 collapse

go by Unilever

You’ll have to introduce us all to little Nilev one day.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 15:09 collapse

Please call my child by their preferred nickname: Uh-Oh Spaghetti-Os.

smeenz@lemmy.nz on 22 Sep 2024 21:57 collapse

Brought to you by Carl’s Junior

x4740N@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 11:49 next collapse

This is stupid

So if they name a movie character Jane Doe then are they going to stop Jane Doe from getting a passport

nogooduser@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 15:19 collapse

It is stupid, yes, but they wouldn’t be able to do that anyway.

I’m fairly certain that the article is using the wrong term here and the problem is that the name Skywalker is trademarked.

You wouldn’t be able to trademark the name Jane Doe so you wouldn’t be able to prevent someone from using it.

homesnatch@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 18:34 collapse

A trademark does not prevent a person from using a term in a non-commercial setting, it does prevent other companies from doing so.

x4740N@lemm.ee on 23 Sep 2024 01:44 collapse

Is this US law, I’m assuming it is because its typically americans that mention legal stuff without saying what country the legal stuff is from

homesnatch@lemm.ee on 23 Sep 2024 02:10 collapse

International and UK law are similar in this regard…

apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 12:19 next collapse

TL;DR: he wasn’t denied. He was permitted.

DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social on 22 Sep 2024 21:22 collapse

He was later permitted. The delay being one bureacrat somewhere was being a corporate bootlicker, possibly based on some bootlicking regulation but maybe just a blanket misinterpretation of a law.

TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 12:41 next collapse

Kids first name is Loki.

That’s badass.

RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com on 22 Sep 2024 13:01 collapse

And Loki is a Nordic god, so nothing to worry about (except if those gods get angry, then good night). The name Skywalker might be the bigger issue here. But even then, no copyright infringement, except if they try to sell their son I guess.

BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 13:46 next collapse

Man, that’s a stupid name. Poor kid permanently tied to a pop culture reference. Two, if the Loki is referring to Marvel. Naming a kid is not an opportunity to express yourself. If you want people to know you like star wars, get a tattoo. Or a bumper sticker. And then I’ll judge you. But leave the kid out of it.

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca on 22 Sep 2024 13:59 next collapse

If you can find a time machine, the braydens, jaydens, aydens, aidens, alicias, felicias, aleeshas, leEverythings, and every intentionally-misspelled version of a normal name, will be spared a lifetime of “it’s like this but spelled like that because my mom sniffed glue” discussions.

Fredselfish@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 15:45 collapse

That part really gets me. Why the fuck would you name your kid a name you can’t fucking spell. And before paperwork is submitted there should be a law that steps in and stops the naming.

brlemworld@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 14:08 next collapse

How do you think Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Jacob etc feel named after made up Bible characters?

matthewmercury@reddthat.com on 22 Sep 2024 14:52 next collapse

It’s fine.

todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 16:01 next collapse

All names are made up.

BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 20:28 collapse

Well, as an atheist I’m not a huge fan of biblical names either

DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social on 22 Sep 2024 21:20 collapse

Eh, those names were cultural before the Bible and they’ll be cultural after it is forgotten as anything but an academic curiosity.

barsoap@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 14:25 next collapse

It’s probably a reference to Marvel. In the Germanic tradition you a) don’t name kids directly after gods, though gods may make up part of the name, say Thorgeir, Thor’s spear, and b) not after Loki. Between fucking a horse (and getting pregnant) and tying a goat to his balls he really should be off limits.

InvertedParallax@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 14:40 collapse

Between fucking a horse (and getting pregnant) and tying a goat to his balls he really should be off limits.

So much for the tolerant left!!!

casmael@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 15:02 collapse

No no, both balls, not just the left one

InvertedParallax@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 14:38 collapse

<img alt="" src="https://lemm.ee/pictrs/image/06cb2d90-9997-45b8-b663-63b32d5a7d01.jpeg">

wjrii@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 15:24 next collapse

I think this is the second time this has happened in recent months. I am wondering if the UK bureaucracy has some sort of training about not violating trademarks generally, or some sort of software filter to avoid trademarked terms. Regardless, it seems like a fairly petty annoyance that affects a tiny number of people and can be worked around.

Or hell, maybe it’s the same clerk and Gareth from Slough is sticking to his guns.

jpreston2005@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 15:43 next collapse

Private corporations tying the hands of governments with copyright BS? If I want to name my daughter Khaleesi Skywalker Gandalf Bethooven SpaceJam that’s none of the governments nor some random corporations business. You can’t trademark a fucking name, wtf is this bullshit? You don’t get to decide what my name is, and you definitely don’t get to hamstring official government agencies in their duties because you’re butthurt about my sharing a name with your fictional character. Go fuck yourselves, disney. You slimy litigious fucks, this is why your brand is sinking.

yesman@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 18:18 next collapse

This isn’t a rule. Some bureaucrat was mistaken.

The same thing happened to another girl a couple weeks ago.

DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social on 22 Sep 2024 21:17 collapse

But it is indicitive of the Anglo-Saxon propensity for bootlicking. /Celtposting

WldFyre@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 22:19 collapse

The French do their arguably dumber “you can’t call that thing you made what I call it even though it’s the same recipe, because it wasn’t grown where my ancient relatives made it,” though. Also France’s general xenophobia and owning a bona fide colony way later than the Anglos lol

SomethingBurger@jlai.lu on 22 Sep 2024 22:32 collapse

You’re talking about AOP (Appelation d’Origine Protégée / Protected Origin Naming). It makes senses because protected names are place names. You can’t call any sparkling wine “champagne”. It has to come from Champagne. However, you can call your raw milk cheese “faisselle” even if it wasn’t made in Rians, as faisselle isn’t a place.

WldFyre@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 22:44 next collapse

Too bad this kid wasn’t born at Skywalker Ranch, then

MartianSands@sh.itjust.works on 23 Sep 2024 07:41 collapse

By that logic, you should object to cheese being labelled as “cheddar” cheese, because that’s a place too and you’ve almost certainly never seen cheese which came from there.

It’s a stupid rule

SomethingBurger@jlai.lu on 23 Sep 2024 08:21 next collapse

There is a West Country Farmhouse Cheddar PDO at the European level for cheddar from Cheddar.

Squizzy@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2024 08:50 collapse

I wouldnt see it as stupid, people and governments want to protect what they produce.

If it doesnt matter then have prosecco and everyone is happy.

AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works on 22 Sep 2024 20:56 next collapse

Yeah, Disney is slimy, but for once this isn’t their doing. Some paper pusher overstepped their boundaries, that’s not on Disney.

Squizzy@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2024 08:45 collapse

There are rules around names for children with food reason, if you name your child Hitler and Unwanted you can expect government intervention because it can be perceived as child abuse by putting undue stress and difficulty on the child.

Which I believe is fair

This name doesnt quite hit that mark but I would defend government intervention when naming children for outlier cases.

viking@infosec.pub on 23 Sep 2024 08:56 collapse

All fair and good, but that kid has been named without government interference, so the name is legally given. So they shouldn’t be able to then deny an identification document later.

Squizzy@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2024 14:01 collapse

Agreed

todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 16:00 next collapse

It is incredibly stupid that the Passport office thinks that this is a copyright issue, but the parents logic is also baffling…

“We understand that Loki’s middle name is copyrighted, but we have no intention of using it for personal gain."

So you gave a child a name that they themselves won’t be able to use for “personal gain” when they grow up? Acknowledging the inherent limitations of a name like this just sounds like you willfully set your kid up for failure.

Sounds to me like a case of parents treating their child like an accessory. You’re not raising a child, you’re raising a future adult. Maybe don’t give them a legal name that is also a corporate brand name?

Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 16:32 next collapse

My son happens to have the name of one of my favorite comic book characters. However, it’s only one of his names, and also it’s a name that’s real and normal so nobody would think twice about it. I wouldn’t name him such an obvious name that is only tired to the one character

BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee on 22 Sep 2024 22:58 collapse

I have a somewhat unusual name, that could me male or female. I really didn’t like it growing up. Now i don’t care anymore, moat people call me a wrong name anyway that sounds similar. But damn, growing up i just wanted a normal ass name.

otp@sh.itjust.works on 23 Sep 2024 00:57 collapse

growing up i just wanted a normal ass name.

Now, as an adult, you can name your ass whatever you want!

Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 16:21 next collapse

Loki Skywalker. Jesus, these parents need a smack

DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social on 22 Sep 2024 21:16 next collapse

Naming children after the mythical figures of a culture is perfectly acceptable.

Zahille7@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 21:31 next collapse

True and fair, but what do you think when you hear that someone’s name is Loki (who isn’t from a Scandinavian country)?

DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social on 22 Sep 2024 22:27 collapse

“At least they know Thor was, deliberately, a dick”

FinishingDutch@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2024 11:08 collapse

And Jedi is actually recognised as an official religion in the US. And there’s plenty of people who identify as Jedi in the UK as well. So one could certainly argue that it’s violating someone’s religious beliefs by not allowing that name. At least Luke Skywalker has some evidence of existing…

Kbobabob@lemmy.world on 23 Sep 2024 11:50 collapse

At least Luke Skywalker has some evidence of existing…

Both are book fairy tales that had movie adaptations. They are more similar.

stoly@lemmy.world on 25 Sep 2024 04:59 collapse

How many people in the world named Jesus or Mohammad?

Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world on 26 Sep 2024 06:42 collapse

I’m an atheist and even I know that’s a weird comparison. You can’t copyright the name Jesus. Or Loki even cause they’re deities. But Skywalker as a name is for sure made up by Lucas. Maybe in 500 years when star wars is a recognized religion, but the star wars people need to do some conquering and crimes against humanity to qualify for that

stoly@lemmy.world on 26 Sep 2024 15:14 collapse

My comment is not about them using copyrighted names. It’s about how silly people are who name children over fictional characters.

General_Effort@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 19:05 next collapse

Something as short as “Skywalker” can’t be copyrighted. You don’t need permission to use a trademark as long as you don’t harm the brand or confuse the customer. Since trademarks are often family names, there are a number of unrelated companies that operate under the same name but in a different business.

DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social on 22 Sep 2024 21:15 collapse

Sure, but, also, that it’s an existing brand is simply irrelevant to a personal name. You don’t need to establish that it doesn’t damage the brand, it can even directly damage the brand in fact, it still doesn’t matter because people aren’t products.

JimVanDeventer@lemmy.world on 22 Sep 2024 19:15 collapse

Would that not be trademark infringement, if anything?