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0 pointsvladd15y ago0 comments

You're using PG's code in a trademarked/copyrighted environment (the domain is called exactly HackerNews). That's blatant copyright infringement, you should have gotten YC's permission before, not after the site went live. What you have done is illegal in both US and India.

You should respect the law and change the name or take the site offline until you receive appropriate permissions.

Please note that even licenses as GPL or MPL (that govern the Firefox code for example) give you permission to use the code, not the trademarks of the project. Ubuntu had to make a Linux package called "abrowser" ( https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+package/abrowser ) simply because Mozilla didn't agree with branding their modifications as "Firefox".

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4 comments · 2 top-level

alextgordon15y ago· 2 in thread

I may be wrong, but "Hacker News" does not appear to be trademarked in the US. And the code is open source. So which particular laws are being broken here?

dogofthunder15y ago

the existence or non-existence of a trademark registration filed with the USPTO doesn't necessarily mean that the name is trademarked or not. registration helps when you're suing, but trademark rights can attach without registration.

alextgordon15y ago

But there's other sites using the HN name, presumably without permission (e.g. hackernewsers.com). Surely if PG did sue, his case would be quite weak.

It also occurred to me that hackernews.in is clearly a website aimed at Indians, so I don't know to what extent US law applies.

Anyway, it seems that the name is going to be changed, so this whole trademark point becomes moot. http://hackernews.in/item?id=375

srean15y ago

Not sure why this got downvoted. Seems a perfectly legitimate statement.

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