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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
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censorsism has reared its ugly head in the knitting world.
a company in NYC has been threatening (succesfully!) Yahoo and other on-line sites--claiming copyright/trademark infringement for use of the term Stitch and Bitch --since they have an on line, trade marked site called The Stitch and Bitch Cafe.
they claim (and act rightous!) about their claim that they own, not just the term The Stitch and Bitch Cafe, but all use of the words "stitch and bitch" (since apparently they trademarked the term stitch and bitch cafe--in 1997!
recently Yahoo shut down over 1000 sites that use stitch and bitch in either the title or description of the BB's/mail-list sites. (my own Stitch and Bitch, called LICKnits was shut down--no Snb in the title, but it was in the group description.
please join me in using the term stitch and bitch everywere possible. the term has been used for years (so far the earliest siting i know is from the 1930's--but it would be nice to find one even older.)
there is a site based to boycotting Sew Fast/Sew Easy.
sew fast/sew easy is the company that is trying to claim that all use of the words Stitch and Bitch--with out the word Cafe at the end--is illegal and a trade mark infringement!
i would like to make their lives hell.
I doubt very many here are regular patrons of sew fast sew easy--so it won't do much to ask you to boycott them or their products.. but you can help free the stitch and free the bitch.
Thanks!
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Joined: Oct 2005
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In fact, you've just increased the traffic on their internet site (by only a tiny bit). Sorry, I couldn't help myself! 
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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OK I shall, and be glad doing it.
Next they'll try to copyright traditional names of rice or something.
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Oh yeah, free the stitchin' bitch!
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Joined: Oct 2005
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Quote:
Next they'll try to copyright traditional names of rice or something.
Ummm, too late  http://www.american.edu/TED/basmati.htm
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Joined: Jul 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
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Grumble. Grumble. I had TEd trademarked and they went with a capital D to avoid paying royalties. the NERVE!
TEd
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Who's TED, and what does he do at American?
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Mmmm... so does "stitch and bitch" have a specific meaning aside from the two words? Is it an idiomatic expression? I've never heard it before. 
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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When you register a trade mark you register it in a certain context. Apple Computers and Apple Studio chewed this one out many years ago and ended up agreeing that Apple Studios wouldn't make computers and Apple Computers wouldn't get in the music business.
What? iPods?
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Yeah, iPods stirred that up again.
***
It's kind of odd, their bitching about their TM. Surely, the value of the phrase lies in its prior ubiquity.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Marianna the term Stitch and Bitch has been used on the campus's of US woman's colleges since the late 1930's for groups of women who get to gether to do needle work.
this included fine needle work (embroidery, needlepoint, tatting, and other thread work) and generally needlework, (mending, darning, plain sewing and knitting)
starting about 10 years ago, as young woman again discovered the joys of knitting, it been used for many on campus and off campus groups--most, but not all of them, devoted to knitting circles.
5 years-with the the publication of Debbie Stollers book Stitch and Bitch and the follow up book Stitch and Bitch Nation, it has been used widely for the name of internet groups.
Last week, when threatened with legal action, Yahoo closed/deleted almost every group that either used Stitch and Bitch in its name, or even in the description of the group. My group (LICKnits) did not use Stitch and Bitch in the title, only in the description, and we too were 'zapped')
I live in queens (a borough of NYC)--but its a big one 110 square miles! the internet (specifically LICKnits) was one way i kept in touch with other knitters in queens. -there was another SnB group in queens, and there were at least 3 SnB's in manhattan, 2 in brooklyn, 1 in the Bronx and 1 on staten island!--NY is a big city.. all of these group were independent, but there were some overlaps in membership.
(there might have been more groups, these were the ones i knew about since they all had Yahoo sites, (and all of these sites are gone!)
We did not sell anything, we were a small group (apx 25) who got to gether to knit together.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,109 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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...used to be the name of a users goup/publication of Apple][-Plus devotees. In the Eighties.
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Carpal Tunnel
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TEd
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Thanks, Helen. Nice to have the expression explained. And it's too bad they're harassing small groups like yours. 
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
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5 years-with the the publication of Debbie Stollers book Stitch and Bitch and the follow up book Stitch and Bitch Nation, it has been used widely for the name of internet groups.
How can you trademark something that was used as a title 5 years ago. Couldn't Ms. Stoller countersue?
Imagine if someonetrademarked all swearwords and got the sites pulled. The whole web would fold up and float away.
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Ms Stoller's book series is called "Stitch 'N Bitch" which counts as a different mark. SF/SE had problems with their original application as it used both "and" and "&".
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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there may well be no legal basis whatsoever behind these threats to yahoo!; but they will take absolutely no action on the *user's behalf, as they consider yahoo! groups to be something akin to a loss leader. in fact, their attitude towards "yahoo! groups" (which is a free service) is not much different than the attidtude of our master here; i.e., don't bother the man behind the curtain.
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