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How did Motorola get away with calling their phone the "Droid"?

MisterB

Well-Known Member
Dec 25, 2009
160
18
We all know the word "Droid" is short for Android, which is the software our phones run on this forum, whether they are made by Motorola, HTC, etc. Why is it that Motorola was able to take this name, and call their latest Android phone by that name?

I think it is a little confusing, because sometimes when people see my phone and ask what it is, I'll tell them it is a Droid phone, but then they get a puzzled look and tell me they thought the Droid was more heavy and clunky with a slide out keyboard. Yeah, I can say "it is an Android phone", and I do that sometimes- but it is sort of annoying that Motorola took a nickname that already existed on other Android phones before its time, and called it their own.

What's done is done, I suppose- but I'm just curious how Motorola was able to get around trademark and copyright issues, and why Google would allow this in the first place?
 
No my friend, you have a HERO running the Android OS. When people see me in a coffee shop or something and ask me, "What kind of laptop do you have there?" I don't say, "It's an XP." Or, "It's a Vista." Or, "It's an X." I say, "It's a Dell," "It's a MacBook," etc. If I'm bold enough, I may say, "It's a MacBook Pro!" Or, "It's a Dell Inspiron."

No wonder people are confused and perplexed by your answer. These devices have names.
 
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Yeah, this took me a while to parse. Are you saying that for a while now, you've been saying you have a 'Droid', but now that Verizon has started using using 'Droid' for their phones, people are confused?

As others have mentioned, Verizon got away with it by paying LucasArts. That they had to do that at all is proof enough that it wasn't really a nickname that all the other phones had. I can imagine it was cool to say before the Droid line was announced, but, in truth, you were the one creating the confusion, not the other companies.
 
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No my friend, you have a HERO running the Android OS. When people see me in a coffee shop or something and ask me, "What kind of laptop do you have there?" I don't say, "It's an XP." Or, "It's a Vista." Or, "It's an X." I say, "It's a Dell," "It's a MacBook," etc. If I'm bold enough, I may say, "It's a MacBook Pro!" Or, "It's a Dell Inspiron."

No wonder people are confused and perplexed by your answer. These devices have names.

That's BS. Sorry. Verizon refers to the HTC Eris in advertising (which is almost identical to the Sprint HTC Hero), as a "Droid".
 
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By stating that Verizon "got away" with the Droid name is a poor statement. As mentioned previously, they licensed it from LucasFilm. So there was no 'getting away' with anything. They paid, and paid a lot, I'd imagine for the right to use it.
The really appaling thing to me is that Lucasfilm was able to copyright a word like Droid to begin with.
I think I'm gonna copyright the newly created word "Ima-Dope" and anyone who EVER tries to use it without my permission will be heavily fined.:rolleyes:
 
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I wont try and show too much of my Star Wars-esque geekiness, but in Star Wars, there are no "Androids". There is only Droids. The term "Droid" has been exclusively used by Star Wars since the movies released. LucasFilms was able to copyright that term, because they exclusively used it, before anyone else.

Data from Star Trek isn't a "Droid", he's an "Android". Just because we live in a world where everything must be fast-food fed and shortened, doesn't mean "Droid" is now available. It's just like the word "Coke". Coca-Cola has that branded also.
 
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We all have Droids. NOT JUST VERIZON USERS.

No...no you don't. You also don't have a Tivo, if it's a TIme Warner DVR. It's not Kleenex if the box says Puffs on it. The issue here is that you're confusing terminology that it appears that everyone else in this thread understands.

Verizon licensed the term to use in its marketing of the Eris, the Motorola 855, etc. It's not really that confusing. An HTC Hero isn't a droid. Because HTC doesn't use the term to market it. Pretty simple really.
 
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