T-Mobile has trademarked the use of magenta in their logo, and have started to send letters to other companies, just as Engadget who use that color stating that people will get confused about what products are offered by each company. For details see the post on engadget
What do you think about this?
In today's society there is a gray line between who owns content. While most would agree that song writers, singers, and musicians should own their songs and get most of the profit from their sale the reality is recording labels own the right to these. And the record companies continue to put strict rules on what people can do with digital copies of the songs they purchase.
Copyright was originally designed to protect the artists of society from companies who would take an idea and turn it into a new product, making a fortune. For example, When Disney released Lion King Fans of Tezuka's 1966 anime classic Kimba the White Lion were shocked to see the similarities between Kimba and Simba as well as the similarity between specific scenes in the movie and tv show. Tezuka had the right to file a lawsuit against Disney for not crediting his intellectual property (ie the Anime). For more information about this controversy read Watching Anime, Reading manga or check out this fan's post about the similarities.
Another example would be Napster, one of the first music sharing sites. It allowed someone to upload the mp3 copy of a song that then could be downloaded by anyone who logged into Napster. While the original uploader had the right to make a digital copy, by uploading the song it allowed millions of people to download the song without paying for the CD. For the artists this meant that millions of people weren't buying the right to listen to the songs.
For more information about copyright patents, and trademarks check out one of these books or the government website on copyright:
Behind the News: Internet Freedom - the first chapter explains this issue very clearly.
The Future of Music
Music Law
The Copyright Handbook
