trippregan wrote:I got disqualified for having the dreaded "power symbol" b/c it is copy-written... how'd you pull this off?
You must be one of those ninjas...
God only knows why Woot thinks someone holds the copyright on that symbol. Since they've decided to play armchair lawyer, I think I'd like to as well.
IANAL, but I find it highly unlikely that anyone could legally defend their rights to that symbol for numerous reasons. First, a circle broken by a line would almost certainly fail to meet minimum standards for originality in most jurisdictions. Second, copyright protects a specific expression, not the idea expressed, meaning that a person's rendering of the symbol could possibly (though improbably) be protected, but someone else's rendering would not be. Third, my (admittedly limited) research shows that the symbol in question was originated by the IEC, an international non-profit standards organization (see IEC-5009 for more information), and the very idea of such an organization trying to protect the symbols suggested in an open standard requires a breach of logic I just can't swallow.
So, there ya go... Congrats to whoever convinced Woot that this symbol is in any way protected. While we're at it, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell them.
