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Comment by ircshotty | Hacker News Reader

I mean, this seems perfectly reasonable? The letter is polite and explains exactly why they have reached out.

You could make a reasonable case that someone may be confused and think this fan is officially related to the Raspberry Pi company.

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An ultimatum to delete all content within 2 weeks, after they've not said a thing for 8 years, linked the site from their official blog, ... seems quite heavy-handed. Yes, they might have the right to do so, but it is shitty and not the only option.

I'm sure they can get in contact and discuss something more reasonable. I doubt RPi's stance is unwavering

Asking to transfer the domain with such short notice does feel heavy-handed for sure. But they haven't asked to delete the blog - only to remove offending references.

Removing all references to Raspberry Pi from a blog dedicated to discussing the Raspberry Pi is effectively the same as asking to delete it. What would they be left with?

> remove all content relating to our Raspberry Pi brand

How much of a Raspberry Pi blog is going to be unrelated to the "Raspberry Pi brand"?

I think that's a very interesting viewpoint, and probably says a lot about your background.

As a non-lawyer brit, this sound horribly harsh, we're about to sic the lawyers on you unless you stop everything immediately.

The very name Raspberry Pi Spy seems fairly clear - it is either using the raspberry pi to do something (spy) or it is spying on the raspberry pi. Either way, it screams unofficial.

This seems reasonable? Raspberry Pi is only successful because of the community around it. If you have a product that depends on community service engagement, you don’t do things that damage your community support.

This take was so wrong the raspberry pi ceo came out and apologized.

Is "transfer your domain to us" really friendly?

As a boss once told me, trademark law requires you to be a litigious arsehole, and to act as soon as you become aware of the issue.

This may not seem friendly to you, but the default is a heartless C&D with the letterhead of a legal firm and starting something like “our client…”

FWIW it's not true. You don't lose trademarks by letting others use them, you lose trademarks by not paying your renewal fees (or genericisation: but that's actually protected against by trademark use).

This is not legal advice; this is my personal view and in no way relates to my employment.

Also not a lawyer, but it is either literally what that boss said or very close to what he said — he may have used a different expletive, but he didn’t seem to be a fan, and I have every reason to think he was sincere.

It's an oft repeated myth/excuse. I guess it lets TM management firms rinse clients for larger management fees.

Out of the blue, after 8 years..

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