[Don Patrick]

As a publisher and past legal advisor to artists, let me lay out the rules once and for all:

Website design and contents are always protected by copyright. No copyright notice is required for this to be in effect.
Names can not be protected by copyright, but they ARE protected by Trademark laws with pretty much the same effect. Names automatically become trademarks by frequent public use of the name. Trademarks do not require registration, unless you want to additionally sue for damages. Trademark laws are violated when someone publicizes a product/website in the same field (e.g. chatbots) as another product/website using a closely resemblant name. Trademark laws exist to combat public confusion as to which product/website is whose. There is a clear conflict here because the same name is being used for a similar product (a chatbot) in the same field. Steve Worswick has established a solid trademark by actively using the name Mitsuku to promote his product and website for well a decade. He is in his legal right to object, make a cease-and-desist order, or sue if he so chooses, as there is a good possibility that the public can confuse the one for the other.

Just drop it 8pla, and stick to your own projects with your own names (e.g. your neural net ANN). Your persistence serves no benefits and holds no legal ground.

[claude2]

excuse me I did not know the storm, in this post.

[8pla.net]

If a domain name uses a surname it is ineligible for trademark protection.  Mitsuku is definitely a surname.  Just saying, so my friends don't waste their resources. However, I do think a holding page is a great idea, actually! 

[8pla.net]

Introducing the beautiful voice of Miki Mitsuku



Miki Mitsuku is a YouTube sensation singing the Kelly Clarkson cover - Because of you

[squarebear]

If a domain name uses a surname it is ineligible for trademark protection.

Really? That's so cool. *starts making a load of fake Disney domain names such as http://www.theofficialdisneysite.com to sell Disney merchandise and refers any complaints to Tom Joyce's Google School of Law*

Miki Mitsuku is a YouTube sensation

9 subscribers and 10 views in over 4 years? Your definition of Youtube sensation must be different to mine.

*EDIT* Actually, I've just seen that you've removed the chatbot element from your mitsuku site and am therefore happy. Thank you for doing that but it will be a long time before my respect for you is back. Hopefully, we can all move on now.

[DemonRaven]

okay for future reference put these two symbols on your site to protect it. Neither is totally the official way which costs money but it will give a standing in a court of law.
This is what you put by your name or website icon ™  it creates the TM
mark. This is what you put for copyright ©  it creates the copy symbol.
I want to caution however about claiming a chat bot created from Dr. Wallace's AIML or any other persons  coding, even if it is open source as being your own code is not legal.

[8pla.net]

Steve asked, "9 subscribers and 10 views in over 4 years?"

No, that would be over 99.95% false.  It is way under four years. 

Quoted from the YouTube channel of Miki Mitsuku:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIchF11G5met09dcFAZB-Kw

Kelly Clarkson - Because of you (cover)
by Miki Mitsuku

    2 weeks ago
    14 views

So, for the sake of conversation, let's set the record straight, my friends, once an for all. There was never any copyright or trademark infringement as far as this friend is concerned.   What kind of friend, depends on screen scraping a website without permission, to trick our friends into undeserved sympathy?  Of course, scaling one screen scrape up and the other screen scrape down, way out of proportion, may be misleading to some for our friends at first.  Until those friends click the images to play a slideshow!

Right click to view image information... It shows it is scaled down.
Dimensions: 885px × 500px (scaled to 697px × 394px)

Right click to view image information... It shows it is scaled up.
Dimensions: 635px × 479px (scaled to 697px × 526px)

This is a breach of copyright and unless it is removed, you leave me no option but to seek legal advice.

A screen scrape of a website without permission may be what our friend admits in this quote. So, it may be wise if it is removed.  Therewithal friends, any interface system, regardless of the form, may come as bad news in terms of copyright protection.

Section 102(b) of the Copyright Act

In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated or embodied in such work.

My friends, please know that accusations made on this thread and elsewhere are FALSE.

[Don Patrick]

Surnames as trademarks:
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/using-surname-family-name-trademark.html

[8pla.net]

Surnames as trademarks:

the mark owner must have the namesake’s written permission to register the mark.

We can all imagine our good friend asking Mr. Mitsuku, "Excuse me Sir...   May I have your permission to trademark your family's name?  I need it in writing."

"It's been in our family for generations.  What are you planning to do with it?" asks Mr. Mitsuku.

"I plan to use it for my nude chatbot." answers our good friend.

[squarebear]

Tom - read the full thing rather than quoting the parts that suit yourself.

A trademark application for a surname need not automatically be denied simply because it is a surname, or similar in sound or appearance to other surnames. Examination of an application for a surname should focus on how many people have that same surname and thus would be affected by registration of the surname.

Either way Tom. It's still a pretty low stunt to pull calling me friend and then using my ideas.
How many people have the surname Mitsuku? Apart from your Youtube sensation, I guess not many.

   2 weeks ago
    14 views

I stand corrected. I was unaware this account generated such a high volume of traffic.

... any interface system, regardless of the form, may come as bad news in terms of copyright protection.

Be wary folks, this means Tom can use your work and pass it off as his own rather than thinking of his own ideas.

[8pla.net]

As we all know, open source A.L.I.C.E. has many AIML and RiveScript clones.  Isn't it a good thing, an AIML clone of Mitsuku, based on open source Mitsuku AIML files, open source A.L.I.C.E. AIML files, open source Program-O AIML interpreter, and free and public domain Japanese anime artwork?

For the sake of conversation, let's say the website never does anything to pass itself off as the original, clearly stating the chatbot it is hosting is a clone, not to be confused with the original and providing links to the original chatbot website. The chatbot clearly stating itself it is a clone, and when asked, recommends and  provides on demand redirects to the original chatbot site.

On the bright side, a clone of Mitsuku may be eligible to enter the Chatbot Battles Competition!

[Ultron]

Actually this is how we learn to properly respond to questions.  This is promising and could be a good NLP research project. I would further suggest giving Mitsuku the ability to read from the internet and memorise forms of questions attached with the proper response pattern.

Pattern ex.  "N, N,  V,  N,  P,  V,  A,  N"
n - noun,  v -  verb etc.

Note from personal research - such a database would be more than enourmous.

Edit: I failed to read the replies first. I am sorry I did not realise this was a court marshall thread.

[8pla.net]

Hi Ultron7,

Welcome to this new thread.   Less than a week old, this hot topic has over 40 replies and 1745 views.  You said, "Pattern ex.  "N, N,  V,  N,  P,  V,  A,  N"  Is that: Noun Noun Verb Noun Preposition Verb Article Noun ?   

And we are all counting down... Our friends are going to be on CNN soon, which is just fantastic!

[Ultron]

Why do I suddenly feel like I am talking to a chatbot?
(no offence)
I did not understand what you are saying,  sorry.

Yes that is the pattern meaning (I do realise no such sentence exists).  Oh whoops actually the 'A'  stands for adjective.

And I did not understand how your whole reply connects with itself..

[squarebear]

For the sake of conversation, let's say the website never does anything to pass itself off as the original, clearly stating the chatbot it is hosting is a clone, not to be confused with the original and providing links to the original chatbot website. The chatbot clearly stating itself it is a clone, and when asked, recommends and  provides on demand redirects to the original chatbot site.

A clone is an exact copy of someone or something. Just using the free AIML files I provide would not make a clone of Mitsuku, as it would answer differently (and probably worse). If the chatbot showed Mitsuku in a bad light, I would probably complain.

To be honest though Tom, I would recommend working on your own project. It's far more fun than trying to copy other people.