Boy named after Star Wars character denied passport due t copyright infringement | Hacker News Reader

Boy named after Star Wars character denied passport due t copyright infringement

nzherald.co.nz

32 pointsmdp202114 comments

Reach the end of the article:

> The family now plan to take a greatly anticipated holiday along with their other children, Kaycie and Willow*. // His family isn’t the first to face issues getting a passport for their child because they named them after famous characters. // A British mother was “absolutely devastated” after her daughter was denied a passport because of her name, which was inspired by another hugely popular franchise

Refers to:

6-year-old girl denied passport because her name is a Game of Thrones character - https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/6-year-old-girl-denie...

(*Maybe from The Wicker Man?)

Willow is a semi-common name. But good chance it is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_(TV_series) and/or the original movie.

The second article, about the GoT character, is a big nothing burger:

> With fears it could affect her daughter’s future travel, the family sought legal advice over the passport rejection.

> They found while there is a trademark for Game of Thrones, it does not apply to a person’s name.

> The family then sent that information back to the Passport Office to clear up the issue.

> The Passport Office has since apologised to Lucy and her family, labelling the rejection a “mistake” and claimed there was a misunderstanding between guidance staff.

That bit about trademarks not applying to people’s names is probably universal, and the staff who handled the case in TFA screwed up in the same way the ones in the Khaleesi case originally did and alter corrected themselves in the same way.

So the biggest nothingburger here is likely to be... The paper's sly implication that it was their email that did it for young Skywalker.

If there is a single pothole unfilled anywhere in all of England, the Home Office has better things to do than asserting Disney's intellectual property rights for them on passport applications.

An office accepts registering a newborn citizen with a name; another decides (out of which supposed power?) that citizens with that (approved) name cannot have a passport. There is a problem there that is well above potholes. And the significance of that problem, in the terms above expressed, is at "civilization failure" level.

> If there is a single pothole unfilled anywhere in all of England, the Home Office has better things to do than asserting Disney's intellectual property rights for them on passport applications.

Any particular reason that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would have to suffer the potholes?

The Skywalker name wasn't coined by Lucas, it's taken from the name of a Native American man.

Perhaps this is a case of overzealous bureaucrats improvising legal judgements outside their jurisdiction, e.g. the Rimmer directives.

Note that this is in the UK, despite the link being to a New Zealand news site.

Why does the news call it copyright infringement in the headline when the article says "trademark or copyright infringement" and it's a trademark issue?

It’s not like that makes it any better. A trademark is not relevant to this either.

  The family was reportedly able to resolve the issue and will travel to the Dominican Republic as planned.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/09/22/family-told-to-chang...

why in heck would you want to go there when you could just go to Oakland, CA

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/...

    Exercise increased caution in the Dominican Republic due to crime.

    Country Summary: Violent crime, including armed robbery, homicide, and sexual assault, is a concern throughout the Dominican Republic. The development of a professional tourist police corps, institution of a 911 system in many parts of the country, and a concentration of resources in resort areas means these tend to be better policed than urban areas like Santo Domingo. The wide availability of weapons, the use and trade of illicit drugs, and a weak criminal justice system contribute to the high level of criminality on the broader scale.

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