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Comment by yaur | Hacker News Reader

> Let’s take the example of a restaurant that advertises itself as a “Poké Stop” and utilizes a game image in connection with the stylized “Poké Stop” mark in its store window. That is arguably an instance of both copyright and trademark infringement.

It seems crazy to me that a developer can put a pokestop(or w/e) inside of a store with no notification or permission from the property owner, but the property owner can't put up a sign indicating that a pokestop has been created inside of their store without getting a license. If that's really how the law works we've already reached the dystopian future.

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Using the stylized mark could be trademark infringement. Putting up a sign saying "Poké Stop" or similar, as long as you don't use the trademarked font/color/style choices, can't be; it is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_use .

Are there any Pokéstops (and gyms) in stores? Almost all of them that I've seen are public art, plaques, signs along nature trails, etc. Some of these are on private property, but I haven't seen any that you'd need to actually enter the property to use. One near me is literally a mailbox. The closest I can think of as a business is a church. All of these things are accessible from sidewalks. They're not really "putting" anything any properties; they're just marking things on a map.

Yes. I know of a local empanada/pizzeria place, a burger place, a furniture store, and a taco place that have stops inside of them (that is, marked on the map as being inside of the building). Also, hotels and office buildings with indoor fountains marked as stops.

The radius of the stop is usually large enough that you don't actually need to go inside.

A BBQ chain here in Louisville, KY was advertising on Facebook their PORKé-Stops and PORKé-Lure events.

I was at Providence hospital at the University of Alaska Anchorage campus for the past week and a half, I had family that was there.

I wanted to get outside and walk around for an hour out of the day, so I downloaded the game and wandered around for a while.

Amazingly, there is a gym right at the ER entrance. (Their hockey arena is also right across from the ER, which strikes me as a poor decision considering how traffic could result in someone being delayed in getting to the ER but I digress.) There is a pokestop outside at the non-emergency drop off cul-de-sac. And to top it all off, there is a pokestop at a piece of art in one of the hallways in what should be a secure area-- there was zero security between my family members room and that pokestop.

The hospital is pissed about it, and rightfully so imo: http://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Providence-asks-Pokemon-Go-...

The issue is that the pokestops are really just the portals in ingress, and ingress was a low-traffic game where people weren't trying to come in every 30 minutes, so inappropriate locations could fly under the radar. Now that it went mainstream, they're being noticed.

Even outside of populated areas, the choices are bad. The closest pokestop to me currently, no longer in Anchorage but now in Fairbanks, is about a kilometer deep into private property.

But the developer didn't place anything inside the store. They merely advertised that their app will function in a specific way at certain locations. The terminology confuses us with its use of 'a pokestop in a store'.

It's still a perverse situation where you can incentivise such behaviour, but its no different from somebody posting a challenge online stating they would send money to the first 10 people at a location.

How do you feel about the Michelin Guide giving a restaurant a Michelin star without their notification or permission?

That's only half the analogy - to make it match, you'd have to say "... and the restaurant can't advertise that fact"

Consumer Reports does this. They can review or write about your product, but they steadfastly refuse to let any company use their name or marks in their advertising, and will sue to prevent it.

You can reject Michelin stars.

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