http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 3:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 30th 2007 9:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
I highly doubt Uncle Milton Industries (Uncle Milton?) has the coffers to sue a site such as Engadget for copyright violations.

Sheesh.]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
Personally, I think the antquarium makes for a very nice ant farm

;_]]>Jan 25th 2007 5:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 1:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
Everyone does it anyway. (Well, not everyone, but you get the point.)]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
heh]]>Jan 25th 2007 1:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
Genericized trademark @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark

I could've sworn there was a specific word describing Genericized Trademark]]>Jan 26th 2007 9:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 12:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
That is just crazy]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 26th 2007 5:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 12:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
"Let's get ready to rumble!....."]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Mar 9th 2007 5:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/It's probably a good thing they're sending these out, 'cause while I know "You're fired" and "i-anything" are trademarked, "Ant farm" is a new one to me.
I also doubt they really expected the cease and desist to be obeyed: Hopefully it's just a formality...]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
The same thing should apply here, While Uncle Milton Industries does have the right to inform readers about the claim to the name, it is up to both the poster and the reader to use the name appropriately. Lack of awareness of the claim can simply mean "ignorance is bliss".

Besides, this is a blog, it isn't like you are selling the Antquarium or the Ant Farm. If they don't like a blogger comparing products under a common name, imagine how mp3 player manufacturers feel when every player in the world is called an iPod when clearly there are both superior and inferior players.]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
:D]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 12:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/ "Now, they will be exposed to millions (?) of Engadget readers..."

That's got me wondering. Can someone at Engadget give me a rough estimate of the number of unique IP hits each day? Just a general ballpark. I assumed there were a couple thousand unique daily viewers with a few hundred loyal web tech geeks reading every most every post.]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 12:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 12:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 1:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 4:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/On a similar topic, good friend of mine got into trouble for using the Hollywood sign on a film website, aparently thats copyrighted as well and you cannot use it without permission! A sign!!!]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 12:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 12:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 12:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
-Carl]]>Jan 25th 2007 1:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/ ]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/ "ant farm" and substitute it with a generic phrase, such as "ant habitat."

Is it only me who find "ant farm" to be more generic than "ant habitat"?

English isn't my native tongue, so rare words I hit only in books aren't really /generic/ to me. Habitat is such word: I seen it only in Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy. And honestly wasn't bothering checking dictionary, since I know french verb "habiter" and guessed instantly the habitat's meaning. To put simply, I have written off the word to another term invented by writer.

"Farm" on other side chimes close to programmer's "factory" which refers to something populating program's objects. Often, next where such objects live is called "farm". NOT habitat.]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
The original Ant Farm® includes a silhouette of a classic American farm (barn, farmhouse, windmill, etc). Personally, when I was younger, Uncle Milton's Ant Farm® was my first exposure to an ant habitat. They've been hard at work pushing their Ant Farms® since 1956.

Either way, as other people have pointed out, this is just them doing their duty to hold onto their trademark, so that no other person selling a formicarium/ant habitat can call it an Ant Farm®. As far as Alien Ant Farm, the musical group, I don't see any judge (or person) mistaking them as a rip-off of Uncle Milton's Ant Farm®.

As a side note, if the writers here at Engadget® started calling all handheld computing devices Palm®'s, and all portable HDD/Flash-based music players iPod®'s, I would stop coming to them for information, because they obviously can't tell their Asshole's (©1998 Asshole Magazine) from their Holes in the Ground (©Keith Olbermann). Generally, they seem to be smarter than that.]]>Jan 25th 2007 1:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 27th 2007 12:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 12:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 12:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
Pass the word and boycott any item that company produces. It's time the consumers stand up and expect more from companies.]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
This is NOT a cease and desist letter. It is a PUBLIC notification that the term "ANT FARM" is a registered trademark and not a generic term. They are not threatening to sue anyone and, as has been pointed out, this is just standard procedure for trademark protection. Just ask the people who created the term "Aspirin" what happens when you don't protect your trademark.]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
Also kudos on the book ;). I like it muchly.]]>Jan 25th 2007 1:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
Anyhoo, I need to walk back to my Cube Farm ^Z^Z^Z "Habitat" and get back to work.]]>Jan 25th 2007 12:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 1:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
:)]]>Jan 25th 2007 1:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
from unclemilton.com:


Founded in 1946, our company designs, produces and markets innovative toys which have outstanding play value and maximum kid-appeal. Our brands include Ant Farm®, Back2Nature®, Explore It!™, Jet Hawks® and Farm Fresh™. We continually develop exciting new products for these brands and currently have more than fifty products in our line.

Our most famous product is the fascinating Ant Farm® brand ant habitat. This universally recognized icon of American pop culture was introduced to a fad-hungry public in 1956 by company founders Milton M. Levine and E. Joseph Cossman. Ant Farm® was an instant hit. So far, more than 20 million Ant Farm® brand ant habitats have been sold worldwide. Ant Farms® have been featured in many network television shows, major motion pictures, newspapers and magazines. In 2000 the Toy Industry Association selected Ant Farm® as one of the 100 "Toys of the Century."

It sounds like Milton Berle (and his estate) can rest easy, and that they probably do have a claim on the trademark. ]]>Jan 25th 2007 1:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 1:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/]]>Jan 25th 2007 1:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 1:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
It's likely no one had used it before, since they started selling their ant farm product in the 1950s. They have held the trademark on the title "ant farm" since they started selling "Uncle Milton's Ant Farm"s almost fifty years ago.]]>Jan 25th 2007 1:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 1:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 1:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/
*Runs out to TM ANT CRIB, ANT DOMICILE, ANT PAD, ANT FLAT, ANT DWELLING, and ANT PLASTIC HOUSING UNIT.*]]>Jan 25th 2007 1:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 1:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/25/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-ant-farm-overlords/Jan 25th 2007 1:31PM