Now That Everyone Wants to Be a Geek, Lawyers Have Been Called

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304453304576391602625560250.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Top

by io • 15 years ago

46 33 15 years ago

online.wsj.com

wccrawford• 15 years ago

Someone the other day was commenting on the whole 'everyone wants to be a geek now' thing and wondering what to call true geeks now.

I told him not to worry and that another word would soon be coined to make fun of the true geeks, as always happens. People just can't resist tormenting people who are different.

I am a little surprised that it hasn't happened yet... But then, maybe I'm too old and not hip with the new slang.

As for Best Buy suing everyone for using the words Geek or Squad (and every-so-graciously allowing high schoolers to continue calling their teams 'geek squads' (that's sarcasm)) it's obviously ridiculous. I understand protecting your brand, but when you name your brand so generically, you automatically lose a bit of it. Just deal with it.

pavel_lishin• 15 years ago

I'm holding out for when the "No True Geek" fallacy becomes a thing.

(If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_True_Scotsman)

sudont• 15 years ago

Nerd chic is as dead as punk in 1990. Most social movements are commoditized by way of cultural signifiers, and when the cultural impact of those signifiers goes away, so does the soul of the movement.

"Nerd" used to be about the intellectualism of it, the replacement of certain social interactions with an indie academic mindset. Now, "Nerd" is a marketing demographic, replete with physical identifiers: black plastic frames, object fetishism, a certain "look."

P.S. Punk is still alive in Minneapolis and SoCal. It's just not popular, so the people who actually give a shit are active. However, the rejection of populism is cool, and "cool" attracts the populace.

GrangalanJr• 15 years ago

What distinguishes "true geeks" from the pretenders?

hvs2• 15 years ago

I think that if you are really passionate about something specific that makes you a geek, although I might add a qualifier that it generally has to be an intellectual pursuit.

Most importantly, being a "geek" is not about an image, it's a way of looking at the world.

njharman• 15 years ago

True geeks don't go around telling everyone they're a geek. That's all posers do. Geeks, it's just who they are. It's not a fad, or cool thing used get noticed. Geek is a personality type, you are born with it. It's not something you can buy at the store.

rmc3• 15 years ago

Hacker.

It's still a term that's viewed negatively by mainstream, so you're unlikely to see "Hacker Squad" signs.

hack_edu• 15 years ago

But 'everyone' wants to be a hacker these days too. Read the top left corner of this website. We fought for a decade to redefine the word in the eyes of the public, and yet its quickly become defined as most any person interested in startup culture.

dkarl2• 15 years ago

Yeah, but it's a term that's used differently by the mainstream than by hackers, so you'd be constantly explaining yourself to avoid misperception. Constantly explaining what you mean is fatally geeky. It's better to use a word people don't know and only explain if they ask.

elmomalmo• 15 years ago

> Someone the other day was commenting on the whole 'everyone wants to be a geek now' thing and wondering what to call true geeks now.

> I told him not to worry and that another word would soon be coined to make fun of the true geeks, as always happens. People just can't resist tormenting people who are different.

> I am a little surprised that it hasn't happened yet... But then, maybe I'm too old and not hip with the new slang.

I've heard/read the word 'neckbeard' used in this context.

hugh32• 15 years ago

Note that it's only cool to call yourself a geek if you're not in any danger of being mistaken for an actual geek.

Hot guy/girl wearing glasses: cool.

Overweight unkempt dude in a sweaty t-shirt: still not cool regardless of whether wearing glasses or not.

pasbesoin• 15 years ago

We already have a term for the antithesis: leet (733t or whatever).

Perhaps, as often is the case, we'll end up defining ourselves at least partially in the negative. (Not cool, not leet... whatever.)

"Hacker" seemed to serve partially, for a while, until it became synonymous with every online break-in in the mainstream press.

Shenglong• 15 years ago

1337!

I think 'hacker' has already reached that level of notoriety. Yet, many of us continue to use it. Because really, other than referencing each other, we never introduce ourselves by these titles. "Hello, my name is ____ and I'm a geek" is a little silly.

On the other end, phrases like "I suppose so, for us hackers anyway" would most likely be addressed to to another hacker. For the community, I think, it's unlikely that outside sentiments will affect the terminology that much.

jinushaun• 15 years ago

Checked out the offending work. New Egg's Geek On logo bares absolutely zero resemblance to Best Buy's Geek Squad logo. Best Buy doesn't own everything "geek" and orange. Are Syracuse geeks next?

chopsueyar4• 15 years ago

Apparently anyone wearing a blue polo shirt and khakis is off-limits, too.

aridiculous• 15 years ago

I was ready to softly defend Best Buy on this one until I saw the logo in question. It's just a poorly made logo that happens to use orange and black (because they're elsewhere on the site). This is clearly a case where the sharks are smelling blood.

Good thing PG used the word "Hacker" instead of "Geek", otherwise HN would have been on the chopping block, too :)

chopsueyar4• 15 years ago

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/metaschool/fisher/domain/tm.htm

7. What constitutes tradenmark infringement?

If a party owns the rights to a particular trademark, that party can sue subsequent parties for trademark infringement. 15 U.S.C. �� 1114, 1125. The standard is "likelihood of confusion." To be more specific, the use of a trademark in connection with the sale of a good constitutes infringement if it is likely to cause consumer confusion as to the source of those goods or as to the sponsorship or approval of such goods. In deciding whether consumers are likely to be confused, the courts will typically look to a number of factors, including: (1) the strength of the mark; (2) the proximity of the goods; (3) the similarity of the marks; (4) evidence of actual confusion; (5) the similarity of marketing channels used; (6) the degree of caution exercised by the typical purchaser; (7) the defendant's intent.

They sued a priest!

bhousel• 15 years ago

They sued a priest driving around in a black Volkswagon Beetle with a God Squad logo that looks exactly like the Geek Squad logo.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but Best Buy did the right and necessary thing to defend their trademark.

chopsueyar4• 15 years ago

I can't tell you how many times I accidentally called the God Squad to fix my computer, thinking it was in fact, the Geek Squad.

ZachPruckowski2• 15 years ago

The priest thing seems more legit to me than the Newegg thing. The priests were deliberately trying to "cash in"[1] on similarity between their brand and the Geek Squad brand, whereas Newegg was just trying to use the positive associations between the work "geek" (which Best Buy doesn't own) and computer buying.

[1] - Personally I think there should be accommodations for the fact that it's non-commercial.

lutorm• 15 years ago

The "God squad" reminds me more of the "Mod squad", both in literal similarity and in the implementation. Maybe it's BestBuy who's on shaky ground here?

nhangen• 15 years ago

Yeah, because as we all know, that priests are all about raking in the Benjamins.

programminggeek• 15 years ago

Oh noes!

I go by programming geek. Same name for my blog. I'm working on a side project called Answers Geek.

It's only a matter of time I get sued for being a geek I guess.

Now That Everyone Wants to Be a Geek, Lawyers Have Been Called

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