The awesome-as-fuck movie, Blade Runner is based upon the novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, by Philip K. Dick. In the novel, the “artificial humans” that the protagonist is tasked with “retiring” are the “Nexus-6” models.
The Google phone launched this week is the “Nexus One.”
And Isa Dick Hackett, Philip K. Dick’s daughter thinks that this is an infringement upon her late father’s intellectual property rights. (source) Obviously, she needs to fire her lawyer, because whoever told her that doesn’t know Dick about intellectual property law.
Hackett believes that Google was referencing “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” when naming the phone. And they probably were. So what? First off, Dick didn’t even coin the word “Nexus.” It happens to be a common English word. (definition) Even if it was not, even if Ol’ Phil did “invent” the word, which intellectual property rights would Google have infringed upon? Patent? Not even arguably relevant. Copyright? What? In a single word? Nice try. Trademark? What products did the Dicks sell under the “Nexus” mark? None.
Of course, if some court is dumb enough to even hear her claim, I’m going to start requiring that anyone who uses the term “asshat” or “douchetastic” pay me $50.
