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Comment by markdown | Hacker News Reader

> "sane standards for intellectual property"

You mean US standards for intellectual property... which are really Disney standards for intellectual property.

I'm not a US citizen and think that "US standards for intellectual property" are absolutely disgusting. A US company with no connection whatsoever to my country or its indigenous people has trademarked our word for hello/greetings/life/health.

Life plus 70yrs for copyright? WTF?

How about this for "sane standards of intellectual property": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19997848

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I hope you’re not a citizen of a signatory to the Berne Convention of 1886 which 90% of the world is part of either, 20 years not being much difference when it comes to principles of “US standards” and all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention

> A US company with no connection whatsoever to my country or its indigenous people has trademarked our word for hello/greetings/life/health.

What's the word? Curious.

Not parent commenter but they may mean this: Bula (Fijian greeting) [1] The same article also mentions Aloha being trademarked followed by cease and desists being sent restaurants in Hawaii using the word.

[1] https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/366621/bula...

That's a bingo!

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/367452/fiji...

Google Allo maybe? It seems they have a trademark on that

I thought you were referring to "Hakuna Matata", which they nicked from Swahili and used in the Lion King. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-46384204

Sounds like a repeat offender to me.

Thanks for that link; I missed that news.

> The trademark does not mean that the company owns the phrase, or that it can ban anyone from using it. Disney filed the trademark upon the release of the original movie for clothing or footwear it sells in the United States, as a way to protect itself against other companies that might try to exploit the Disney brand.

These "trademark experts" have contradicted themselves there. The trademark prevents an African man from the race and culture that created the phrase, from selling clothing and footwear bearing that phrase. And I SMH at the claim that Hakuna Matata is a "Disney brand".

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