Intel puts dicks in legal vice

Ouch! Great Satan won't stop squeezing

The chip company which once tried to trademark the letter 'i', a squiggly loop and the word surfboard, has now turned its attention to a retired group of private dicks, otherwise known as investigators.

According to sources close to US firm Intelnetworks, the Intel Corp has recently made a call to the non-profit organisation and ticked them off for using the "intel" prefix. Intelnetworks Inc has no computer element to its business.

Intel is a word. According to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate® Dictionary, it is an abbreviation for intelligence. (Go here.)

This might imply that Intel is barely threatened with intel by trying to prevent its use wholesale. Alternatively, maybe it will sue the Big Dick (dictionary). Mind you, Merriam-Webster has a nerve putting the ® symbol behind collegiate...

But, as regular and longtime readers of The Reg are aware, Intel is very jealous of its intellectual property. Just last year, it took legal action against a security computer firm called Intelnet for similar reasons.

One of Intel's more risible trademarks is "Intel Hotels of Distinction" but as far as we know none of these establishments has opened its doors to guests as yet.

The Internet means you can now search for US trademarks online, with more recent Intel trademarks including The Journey Inside, the Intel Pocket Concert, the Intelnet (76196221 not from Intel this one and filed in mid-January last), and the Dolphin (76026683) from Isle-of-Man firm Dolphin Intel Limited.

*f *ntel had succeeded *n trademark*ng the n*nth letter, *, *t would have really dropped us wr*ters *n the sh*t - we'd have had to stop us*ng the word *tan*c for example, never m*nd, the Pent*um ***, McK*nley or the Un*ted States of Amer*ca, and would have had to pay royalt*es for the word Reg*ster. ®

RegFactoid 667 Mike Magee owns the domain name www.intelligible.com, if that makes any sense..

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