Meet Microsoft's New Xbox Personality: Gamer Dad. Not to be confused with GamerDad!

CheapyD

CheapyD

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10/24 UPDATE: Microsoft has removed Gamer Dad from Xbox.com!

Microsoft has a bunch of different "personalities" which write articles for Xbox.com and perform other functions for the company.

With their new push for family settings on Vista and Xbox 360 (which I think is a great idea), they have added a new "personality", Gamer Dad.

The only problem is that there already is a GamerDad. His name is Andrew S. Bub and and he has been running GamerDad.com for over 3 years. The strange thing is that Microsoft was already aware of the conflict and just moved forward anway.

When I first saw the article on Xbox.com, I just assumed it was GamerDad from GamerDad.com, but it was only afterwards (in the CAG Chatroom), that I learned about this tale of two GamerDads.

If I was (the real) GamerDad, I would be pretty pissed and would be looking into legal action.
Mr. Bub has registered the GamerDad trademark (search for it), the tricky thing, is that it is not registered as Gamer Dad (with the space).
Either way, it certainly causes confusion and since this whole thing is part of Microsoft's Community program, its basically a big fuck you (not to mention possible trademark infringement) to another gaming community, GamerDad.com

Digg this story!

EDIT: Two threads discussing this on the GamerDad forums:
http://www.gamerdad.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=3846
http://www.gamerdad.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3844
 
[quote name='trip1eX']If I was GamerDad I would sellout for a million or two.[/QUOTE]

Bill Gates does not buy people out by paying them, just ask Homer Simpson.
 
[quote name='radjago']Next up, Gamer Mom!

Wait, she doesn't exist.[/QUOTE]

I'm slowly converting my mom over to our side. So far I got her playing games on Pogo.com and I'm gonna swap Tetris for something else in the GBA SP.
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']Bill Gates does not buy people out by paying them, just ask Homer Simpson.[/quote]"Buy 'em out, boys!"
 
I totally assumed it was the dude from the site gamerdad.com. That's an odd move by MSFT. Maybe their excuse will be, "Well, you should thank us, because we imagine that boosted your traffic."
 
Can you really take legal action from calling yourself 'GamerDad'?

I mean, if you called yourself 'Waterman' could you take legal action if someone else called themselves that?

That's such a common name, there's lots of gamer dads.
 
The whole point is, its an everyday name. Anyone can call themselves a "gamer dad"... Not anyone can call themselves Microsoft or Nintendo though.

if he successfully patented "gamer dad", he could sue anyone who used that.

Hell, you could then call yourself "hell" and sue anyone who used the word hell...
 
Technically you can try to sue anybody for anything, but this isn't as arbitrary as you make it out to be. He has the backing to prove he came up with the idea first: GamerDad.com has been around for 3 years.
 
But once again, lots of people have called themselves gamer dads over the years... It IS quite arbitrary...

It would be like someone making a site called ChurchGoer.com, and then raising a stink when someone names themselves 'Church Goer'
 
Mr. Bub has registered the GamerDad trademark (search for it), the tricky thing, is that it is not registered as Gamer Dad (with the space).

Either way, it certainly causes confusion and since this whole thing is part of Microsoft's Community program, its basically a big fuck you to another gaming community, gamerdad.com

(edit: added this to the OP)

Oh, and Digg this story!
 
Meh, I dont see the big deal they dont use the GT:Gamerdad it's kind of just the article nickname and the guy ends with "Article by Brian Brize Johnson". If we start saying phrases like "PODCAST" and "Gamer Dad" are owned by someone then everything becomes a legal battle.
 
Now then, after all I said about the legal action thing, I do hafta agree that Microsoft went too far, naming a name like this and causing confusing. The entire thing is, it's too much of a common name to be anything illegal.
 
I'm going to start a company called "Micro Soft" and sell a linux distro named "Win Dows"!

Microsoft doesn't give a fuck. This reminds me of When MS tried to make a game called Mythica about Norse gods, but Mythic (a developement studio) sued them for unfair trade practices... The game got canned, which is a shame, because it looked cool. You'd think they'd have learned by now.
 
[quote name='AdultLink']Now then, after all I said about the legal action thing, I do hafta agree that Microsoft went too far, naming a name like this and causing confusing. The entire thing is, it's too much of a common name to be anything illegal.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but didn't the Monopoly people (parker bros or hasbro?) go after the "Portable Monopoly" people? The guys that made that afterburner for the original GBA? And they had to change it. Even though it was referring to Nintendo's monopoly over the handheld market.
 
The thing is, though... who cares? I mean, not so much in the way of who cares that Microsoft aped this guy's name -- but who cares about either GamerDad? They're not big names, or anything. One will fade away (the MS employee), if not both.
 
well it looks like Xbox.com has taken all refereces to gamer dad off of their website, the direct link still works, but there is no evidence on Xbox.com or under the personality section that he ever existed. Interesting development to say the least, and for the record Apple has trademarked the term Podcast
 
So the backlash was too much, and now they're scrambling to fix it?

Hmmm, these PR antics sound oddly similar to a certain competitor...
 
[quote name='Wombat']well it looks like Xbox.com has taken all refereces to gamer dad off of their website, the direct link still works, but there is no evidence on Xbox.com or under the personality section that he ever existed. Interesting development to say the least, and for the record Apple has trademarked the term Podcast[/quote]

Now, the direct link is down as well.
 
Man, talk about a lame logo.

bntxboxdad.jpg
 
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