Geekgirl is taken
By Techgirl

I can understand why companies like Google and Microsoft would like to Trademark their names and symbols.  After all, they do business worth tens of billions and provide employment to hundreds of thousands of people directly and indirectly. I appreciate that Google even allows you to put their Trademarks on most websites as long as they make it clear that there is no business association.

But some Trademarks are more difficult to understand in a world where hyperlinking and other forms of sharing are the norm on the internet.

This morning, my Editor sent me a link to an article about how one woman in Australia has trademarked ‘Geekgirl’ and has been warning off other women who used Geekgirl on Twitter and other sites.  ZDNet reported

“
Two prominent women in the Australian IT industry are in a bitter dispute over the ownership of the trademark "geekgirl". The two women concerned are Sydney-based IT consultant Kate Carruthers and Melbourne-based creator of the world's first online cyber-feminist magazine Rosie Cross.

Cross first lodged the trademark "geekgirl" in 1995 which was approved and is now protected by the trademark office.

Carruthers told ZDNet Australia that she lodged the "geekgirl" trademark with IP Australia because the term "geekgirl" was being commonly used in general conversations or as a Twitter hashtag by a "number of women". Those women had been advised by Cross to stop doing so since she owned the trademark for the word, she said.
“

For some reason, Cross refused to give her side of the story to ZDNet.

But once the news article was published, Rosie Cross has made it clear she is working on a Creative Commons license for #geekgirl.  This would allow everyone to use it for non commercial purposes.  Good to see a commonsensical solution being worked out without wasting time and money on lawyers and courts. In Rosie’s defence, she took the Trademark in 1995 when the internet was not fully developed and so it was a logical decision then.  But today the game has changed with Geekgirl becoming part of techie talk. How can women in America, Europe and even India know that they should not use Geekgirl because it has been reserved in Australia?

This bothers me a lot.  Can someone Trademark Geekbaby, Geektween, Geekteen and even Geekwoman?  What about Geekman?  And Fanboy? 

And most importantly, my own name Techgirl!  What if I get a letter from a pan chewing, chain smoking, ISI linked lawyer from Pakistan that Techgirl has been trademarked in that country? I’ll offer them a trade – You handover Dawood Ibrahim to India and in return you get Techgirl (only the trademark)  

Techgoss note:  Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog http://techgirltalk.blogspot.com