Show HN: pan.do/ra - a free, open source platform for video archives | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: pan.do/ra - a free, open source platform for video archives

pan.do

20 points0x006A30 comments

I'd be slightly worried about trademark issues with Pandora the radio -- wouldn't you?

(One of the authors here.) Good question. Does Pandora the radio have a global trademark for what is essentially a US-only product? Would such a trademark cover any type of online service, including a video archive platform? And if so, would it apply to a piece of software that is explicitly spelled pan-dot-do-slash-ra? IANAL, but I don't think so.

It sounds like you have no idea what the answers to any of those questions are.

You even have this on your page: "panˈdôrə"

My intention was to sound like I'm not too worried.

And you're right, we have "panˈdôrə" on our page - which is how you pronounce the name of Pandora, the figure from Greek mythology. Are you suggesting Pandora the radio would have a problem with that? Again, I don't think so.

> Are you suggesting Pandora the radio would have a problem with that?

Given that your product is also in the "entertainment media" space, and is named almost identically to a large, publically traded company, I suspect you'll soon find out.

You'll soon find out that the answer is "yes". As unfortunate as it may be if you're serious about this then I'd definitely 1) consider a different name or 2) get written confirmation that you're free to use it.

Actually, IANAL. Don't take my advice. Definitely check with a lawyer. The headaches today will be worth avoiding MUCH larger ones down the road.

I guess that one of the things we're trying to achieve with pan.do/ra is to produce cutting-edge software without the help of marketeers or lawyers. There is a long tradition of making software that way, and we're trying to follow it.

As a programmer, I'd prefer to find out about actual bugs, rather than worry about the hypothetical legal consequences of potential name collisions in the entertainment media space.

Still, thanks for the advice.

As a programmer, I'd prefer to find out about actual bugs, rather than worry about the hypothetical legal consequences of potential name collisions in the entertainment media space.

There is an actual bug here, but it's not in the code. Consider that using the Pandora name will impel you to spend more time thinking about legal issues, not less.

I'd like to offer some slightly less snarky advice.

I was always the type of person to play it safe. I stayed far from the margins of error in the legal context. Then, a few years ago I partnered with some people who were significantly less averse to this sort of risk (legal). Two years later, I'm still litigating a legal battle of dubious basis at my own expense.

The lesson I learned is that the legal process is not merely something you go through to resolve disputes, but rather it is something that can be done too you. It is expensive, unnerving, and a huge distraction.

You never know when a legal battle is going to strike you like a bolt out of the blue, but you can certainly avoid standing in a field hoisting a metal pole during a thunder storm.

Great comment. I was one of those less legal risk averse people, but one year into a dubious trademark battle I've changed my mind...

Don't risk it, get a lawyer. The last thing you want is to create a recognised brand only to have to change the name because you saved some money by not checking.

But what if we wanted to be recognized as the brand that is spelled pan.do/ra - which happens to be the URL of the product?

And what if getting recognized as the brand involved in a trademark conflict about the name of a Greek mythological figure is a risk we're totally willing to take?

And what if getting recognized as the brand involved in a trademark conflict about the name of a Greek mythological figure is a risk we're totally willing to take?

That's some bravado. To make the case more poignant, you should also open an online shoe store at http://ni.ke

I'm beginning to think that the Ancient Greek should have sought better protection for their intellectual property:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_(mythology)

My point exactly. "But, what about the Greeks!" doesn't carry much weight in a trademark lawsuit.

He shouldn't get a lawyer--he should change the name. The gain for getting to name it pandora exists exclusively in his ego. A prudent person wouldn't hire a lawyer for the sake of his ego.

If the best name you can think of is already in use by a huge player in internet media, exposes you to legal attack, and will confuse potential users and customers, you need to keep thinking.

Our approach was: If the best name we can think of is a nine-letter URL, we got it.

Hey pan.do/ra team! Just stumbled upon your work, and I'm quite simply amazed. It even has a clean API, which I can't wait to play with.

I'm one of the guys behind movies.io - instead of becoming an ad-supported pirate site, we're trying to spin it into a wholly different direction (platform to spread indie movies, etc.)

The 0xDB player is quite simply stunning, and offers features that are very suited to studying particular movie clips (continuous image preview, subtitle sync with seek, reminds me of Mark Boas's work). We'd love to integrate it with movies.io where possible.

If you're reading this (hopefully - you seem to check the thread often), my e-mail is in my HN profile. Looking forward to talking about this with you!

If you need a new name, Pando (Latin for "I spread") is the name of the largest and possibly oldest single organism on Earth.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_(tree)

Thanks for the suggestion. But if you reload http://pan.do a couple of times, you'll see that there are already quite a few contenders...

I don't get it?

The OxJS library is really impressive, it's the JavaScript library used to build pan.do/ra's frontend. [1]

[1] https://oxjs.org/

Thanks! We're planning to formally launch it in a couple of days, and we're looking forward to your feedback...

Forgive me for being dense, it's a really hot evening, but basically I can have my own instance of 0xDB with any clips and movies I choose, yes?

What do you mean by "pan.do/ra is a website that runs in your browser"? The movies and clips are stored on the server? Or is it some mix of local and remote media?

BTW I like a lot the way you prepared it, as an Ubuntu package and a prebuilt image -- makes it seem easy to use and tempting to try.

Yes, precisely. You can run your own instance, with your own videos, and your own configuration. Pad.ma, for example, is quite different from 0xDB.

"pan.do/ra is a website that runs in your browser" was our attempt to communicate that pan.do/ra is not just a server backend to store and serve your media, but that it comes with a web frontend to browse and manage your archive.

What you see on 0xDB is one such frontend.

I seriously think the poster is not mature enough to be the recipient of any advice. This is not a productive anf fruitful way to handle received feedback.

I'm not too interested in ad hominem attacks. Can you cite any specific examples? Would it contribute to the overall discussion if we debated them here?

OxJS... haven't heard of that one before. Anyone used it for anything else?

We have just released OxJS, so it's unlikely someone else already build something with it. We have other projects using it, but they are not public so far.

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