This article discusses debates on names used by different people and companies and the rules that predict whether someone deserves the name or not. I find it really interesting that names used make such a big deal in the world we live in today. I feel like names could create problems if the same name is used for the same product. For example, in the article they discuss that in China, some coffee shops are using the Chinese name for Starbucks. Because Starbucks owns its name, they sued to stop these coffee shops from using their name. This type of name “warfare” seems to make some sense to me because both shops with the same name make the same product, coffee. Because Starbucks is a huge company that has tried so hard to make a name for itself, it would be detrimental for someone to confuse them with the coffee shops in Shanghai that have the same name. Therefore, I think it makes sense that a company would fight for its name if someone else, selling the same product, used their same name. It’s kind of ridiculous, however, when people fight over the name domino for example, which has so many different connotations. I think that if different companies or people use the same name, but for completely different products, there should be no discussion as to who owns the name. In the example of Bill Wyman, for example, it’s ridiculous that the other Bill Wyman would sue. If people really cared about the other Bill Wyman, they would know that he was a bass player and not a music writer, and there should be no confusion. These type of arguments about names seem a little ridiculous and not worthy of the time they take up.
This issue seems to be important, however, when discussing medicines. It would be really horrible if someone was given the incorrect medicine because it looked like the name, or sounded like the name of another medicine. Fighting over names in this category is not only likely to happen, but necessary. In my opinion, it is in medicine names that people should fight to keep names very different for the sake of people’s well-being and health.
Another change that has led to more instances of name warfare is the rise of the Internet. With the Internet, anyone can use a name to make a website. They can use the name of a company or the name of an actor or musician. The laws that apply to this type of name usage make sense to me. I don’t think that they should be extended anymore than they are. I find this whole name dispute very ridiculous and time consuming. I feel like people should focus their attention and time on something more productive like dealing with poverty or AIDS for example. I think that the rule should, as they do, only apply to actors or musicians or authors, and only be applied when the names are used in a bad way. It should only matter if the website, using a public figures name, is doing harm to the person’s reputation.
Therefore, like the end of the article discusses, I don’t think that any of these laws should be tightened, but loosened. As long as the people using the names of these companies or people are not discrediting the people whose names they use, and as long as they do not claim to be these people, they should be allowed to live in peace. This whole idea of fighting over names seems pretty frivolous to me compared to the problems we have in this world today.
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