
SpaceX’s worldwide satellite broadband network may have a name: Starlink - gopalakrishnans
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/09/spacex-seeks-starlink-trademark-for-its-satellite-broadband-network/
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rl3
For all the world-changing humanitarian potential this has, I have to admit my
foremost concern is simply: will any two players on the planet finally be able
to play games together at a latency of less than 100ms?

"But then we thought—hey, let's use it for games!"

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooLO2xeyJZA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooLO2xeyJZA)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79L3eJM605A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79L3eJM605A)

(Both links are classic 3dfx commercials.)

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brianwawok
Is 100ms long enough for light to travel 50% of the way around the earth? I
think its close, maybe 80ms.

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Overtonwindow
Missed a great opportunity to go with Skynet.

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noir_lord
Already used, British milsats.

Name predates terminator franchise.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_(satellite)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_\(satellite\))

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shasheene
Does that matter though? Is there any legal restriction on them re-using the
name? Seems like a huge missed opportunity

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rl3
> _Seems like a huge missed opportunity_

Don't worry. It's possible Elon will have a proper AI play some day, with a
project that's more deserving of the name.

Seeing as he's concerned about safety, I can think of no better way to instill
an ethos of caution into an army of AI researchers than having them show up to
work at Cyberdyne Systems every day to build Skynet.

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jason_slack
This made for think, for some strange reason. With satellite communications,
are there improvements that could be made to tools like rsync, scp, etc to be
really efficient over networks like this?

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cschep
Starlink is the name of Subaru's .. entertainment? center software? It's not
great. It works. Seems a pretty big brand to conflict with though.

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TomMarius
Not the same business though. Not sure about the USA, but in Europe, there can
be multiple trademarks for one name, limited by the field of business. Simply
put, a shoemaker and a software vendor can use the same name.

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SOLAR_FIELDS
It’s the same in the U.S. I can have a shoemaker business named Microsoft
without much issue.

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adventured
> I can have a shoemaker business named Microsoft without much issue.

In a technical legal sense that's sometimes true. In reality, Microsoft will
pursue you aggressively until you capitulate. In that sense, you have a very
big issue.

The less common the name, the less likely you are to skirt by without issue in
such a scenario. You could name your candles, Apple Candles, and be on pretty
good footing (Apple is likely to leave you alone even at scale, so long as you
maintain very strict separation from what they do and their branding). If you
name your candles, Google Candles, Google will figure out a way to stop you if
you ever get big enough to show up on their radar.

In the case of Microsoft (or Google), their name is unique enough that the
USPTO is very likely to find against you for combining that unique name in as
part of your new business name. You won't be able to get or defend a trademark
on Microsoft Shoes, and Microsoft will shut your use down accordingly.

Most often, the category separation concept works so long as the naming is at
least semi-generic, such as Apple Candles or Apple Shoes. It won't work for
Pepsi Shoes.

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tossaway1
Don't name your music company Apple though...

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SOLAR_FIELDS
In the real world no matter what you make if you call it “Apple” anything
someone will probably come after you and say that they are eventually going to
get into this business and offer you some type of settlement.

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deevolution
The facebook internet satelite launch explosion was pretty convenient for
spacex. They can for certain be first to deliver satelite internet.

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nameless912
As someone who works for one of the biggest satellite internet providers in
the world....what the fuck are you talking about?

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deevolution
Whoa there calm down, partner.

