In 2014, with this particular case, I’m solidly behind Warner. But part of me can see a future where this kind of thing becomes a real issue. The internet has really helped to blur the marketplace and I think we’re getting to a point where seemingly separate industries are competing.

Nick starts with a good example so let’s take it a step further. Imagine a time where interactive movies are commonplace. While watching Dark Knight Rises, I can interrupt the movie and manipulate the environment, say for instance, I can use the fictional software in the movie and achieve either real or fictional results. If I’m a consumer and I see the interactive Blu-ray advertised as the movie and access to Clean Slate for $20, why would I spend $40 for the stand-alone version of Clean Slate? And at what point would I even realize I’m not using authentic Clean Slate software?

I know it sounds like a silly example, but that’s only because this is a tech-savvy community. There’s no way my mom would be able to differentiate what’s going on in that scenario. The Tech Dirt community supports the notion that copyright law was not written to handle current technology and I think it’s only fair to say the same thing about trademark law.

I think the moron in a hurry test is becoming invalid. People still use old versions of Internet Explorer because that’s what came on the computer they bought. We all have co-workers who believe they can only access their web-based email account from a specific computer. We only think these people are morons because of our elevated technical knowledge. But in reality, those people are the general public who fail these moron in a hurry tests. All of us could be dropped into an industry where we’d be considered a moron.

The Walking Dead has comic books, the TV show, video games, literature, apparel and toys that you can buy right this second. If a movie by that name was announced tomorrow, nearly all of us would think it’s a related entity and many people would go see it based on the name alone. And just look at Disney and Time Warner. I’d like someone to explain to me what trade they’re in because the only answer I can come up with is ‘all of them.’ Google started out as nothing but a search engine but now I can buy an umbrella, meat brander, dog toy and blanket with their brand on it. You’d have a hard time convincing me that they’re trademark only applies to technological endeavors.

And sometimes I think people don’t look at trademark issues from all angles. I see people say things like, “If you need a rolodex, you’d have to be stupid to accidentally buy this piece of software called Rolls of Decks.” That’s true, but we’re at a point in time where typing either one of those into Amazon’s search box could bring back both results and I don’t think you’d have to be a moron to order the wrong thing. Plus, I think focusing on the “If you need a rolodex” portion of the statement is unfair. I don’t need a rolodex, I need a way to catalog my contacts. In this instance a physical paper product is competing with a software product which is competing with a smartphone which is competing with a web service. It’s getting blurry.