On Thu, 7 Feb 2002, David Woyciesjes wrote:
> > > WHAT?!?
> > > Opus and Bill shooting down flying toasters was a significant event in
> > the
> > > history of computer intellectual property law!
> Is that screensaver still around? and what does it run on? I gotta have it!
> 8-)
> Bloom County Rules... Banana Jr. 2000...
It was only around for a VERY short time.
A strange tale of two software companies: Delrina and Berkeley Software
Systems? (and a surprise appearance of a 30 year old album cover)
There was once a popular screen saver that consisted of pictures of winged
flying toasters. It may well have been the all-time most popular screen
saver.
Another company came out with a satirical product, that consisted of a
screen saver that showed Opus and Bill in a fishing boat shooting down
flying toasters.
Did that infringe on the copyright and trademark of the flying
toasters? Or could it be argued that it used flying toasters in a
"fair-use" editorial context (which permits copies for parodies and
satire)?
The judge thought that it did, indeed, infringe on the winged toasters.
Opus and Bill were reduced to shooting toasters with propellor blades
(which just didn't have the style to be worth it.)
Copies of the original with them shooting winged toasters are now very
rare.
Along the way, it surfaced that the original winged toaster screensaver
which sued Opus and Bill, was itself an egregious infringement of a
winged toaster on an album cover. (with legal action started)
Your project, if you can handle it, for an exhibit:
Identify which company was which. (easy)
Find a copy of the original winged flying toaster screensaver (easy)
Find a copy of Opus and Bill shooting WINGED toasters. (not easy)
Find a copy of Opus and Bill shooting propellor toasters (easy)
Identify the album. (easy)
Get a copy of that album cover. (not easy)
Unfortunately, Sellam has exercised his perogative to not document and
exhibit this extremely significant series of events and artifacts.
Oh, well. Each person has their own standards of what they consider to be
worthwhile.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin_at_xenosoft.com
Received on Thu Feb 07 2002 - 13:07:03 GMT