And a new "threat of the week" from... Canterbury University (the fake one)

It never ceases to amaze me how someone will send us a vaguely insistent email (ok, so this one doesn't really rise to the level of "threatening") about a FIVE YEAR OLD thread... but this one definitely takes the cake for creativity. The claim is that the person has copyrighted the terms "Canterbury University" and "Canterbury University Memorabilia".

Well, first off, one cannot copyright a term such as this. Secondly, I think the *real* Canterbury University would object strenuously if they were to find out.

Third, why would someone operating a legitimate program have any objection to their program being mentioned on a prominent distance learning discussion board?

And fourth, copyright certainly allows for fair use, so even if this person did somehow manage to get a copyright for a term because somebody at the copyright office screwed up, it wouldn't prevent us from mentioning and discussing it, as these things are clearly broken out as part of fair use in the DMCA.

Here's the thread they were complaining about:

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8104


And here's the request as received:

By the way, I'm not quite sure how to provide "Inmediate" removal, even if we wanted to.

 

Good one..

Not to mention the whois info for canterbury-alumni.com

Registrant:
6cuerdas
Jose Salvo
Uruguay, Uruguay 70001
Uruguay

He has no legal right to the name, heck, he even states on the website that the site is not affiliated with Canterbury University...

 

I'm not an attorney, but my understanding is that a trademark protects a name or symbol that identifies a product or service, while a copyright protects an original artistic or literary work and a patent protects an invention.

So the mysterious "Mr Odin" (not the Norse god I hope) seems slightly unclear on the concept.

To say nothing of the fact that Degreeinfo isn't selling any product or service under the 'Canterbury University' name. 'Cheerios' might be a registered trademark of General Mills, but that doesn't prevent people from talking about Cheerios, even saying that they don't like the cereal, if that's what they want to say.

I think that it's pretty safe to say that the predominant international identity associated with the name 'Canterbury University' belongs to the well-known institution located in Christchurch New Zealand. (It's one of NZ's most prominent universities.)

http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/

The fact that this antipodean school already existed is why the university that was subseqently established in Canterbury England was given the name 'University of Kent'.

So it seems doubtful whether an education entrepeneur could even acquire a legally enforceable trademark for the name 'Canterbury University'. The name's already taken and in use. If any trademark for the name exists, then the Kiwis probably own it.

 

Well, now. Just for giggles, I checked the copyright office's database, and lo and behold, Mr. Odin does, in fact, hold a copyright.... to a bunch of text and photos.

Interesting to me is the reference to "employers for hire" in the application. So are they offering a service where you can hire their employers to employ your laid-off employees?