Why is Ebert's name censored?

[Ryan Hartmann]

Hello all!

Nice place here, glad Sporcle finally got some forums.  Anyway, I apologize if this has been discussed before, but I looked and didn't see anything.  I was just wondering why Roger Ebert's last name is censored on every quiz (or at least the several dozen I've played where his name has been an answer.  I've attached a pic of the most recent example I came across last night, for reference.  It's a minor mystery that's been bugging me (slightly) for awhile now, so if anyone can shed some light on it I'd appreciate it :)

Thanks!

http://www.sporcle.com/user/Bio

[DesertSpartan]

His name has copyright protection.

[Hejman]

Not sure that it can be said that Sporcle "finally got some forums".  SporcleU has been around for more than two years now.

As for the Ebert issue, this prior thread on the same topic might be enlightening: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/sporcle-university/ebert/sporcle-university/O-7Um-CkF8k/GIdATTgwPycJ

[Ryan Hartmann]

Ah, well I only found out about them a few months ago.  Either way, nice that they're here :)

Thank you for the info, guys!

[Brimtown]

I understand the copyright issues, since they would want to protect against anyone using his name for commercial profit or suggesting that Ebert may have approved/endorsed something.

However, as a public and historical figure, I would think that one should be allowed to reference his name in a very general setting. For example, if you were talking about prominent movie reviewers of the 20th century, it would be kind of awkward having a list that included Moore, Siskel, *******, etc.

[iglew]

I've read that previous thread, and it explains nothing.  It does appear that "ebert" is included in a banned words database that Sporcle uses for some of its functions, but there is no good explanation of why.  The idea that the Ebert estate has "copyrighted" his name makes no sense legally, and no one has offered any other plausible reason.

If there really were some sort of intellectual property protection on the name "ebert" surely it would be mentioned somewhere else on the Internet, but searches turn up nothing outside of this Sporcle-specific discussion.

[Hejman]

I have never spoken to anyone at Sporcle HQ about this and they have, smartly, chosen not to weigh in on this thread or the other one.  I would venture a guess, however, that Ebert's estate is very protective of his name and his prior reviews.  Those prior reviews and his "thumbs up/thumbs down" rating style remain the intellectual property of his estate.  IF (and this is just conjecture on my part), there had been a Sporcle quiz that used direct quotes from his reviews, it is entirely possible that the estate's lawyers would contact Sporcle with a cease and desist letter, threatening legal action if any protected information related to him continued to be used.  Under that circumstance, it would be wise for any entity to simply refrain from using his information or his name.  Overkill?  Perhaps.  But safe territory none the less.  I would note that a search of the name "Ebert" turns up nothing on Sporcle, which would suggest that any quizzes using his reviews have also been removed (again, if there ever were any). 

That said, I'm just a volunteer here and can't speak for the business entity that is Sporcle.  But as a lawyer, the lack of quizzes and blocking of the name suggest to me that something similar to that may have happened.  It would not be at all surprising or out of the normal course of business for Ebert's lawyers to take that action and it would not be at all surprising (and legally prudent) for Sporcle to simply block the name in response.  Blocking the name would satisfy the cease and desist terms, protect against future infringement and likely discourage users from violating intellectual property protections in the future.

I would note that the U.S. Copyright office shows 42 copyright applications connected with the name "Roger Ebert" (most of them for his 'Video Yearbook' publication), and the of use of the text of his reviews would be a possible copyright violation. The use of his name would be a trademark violation and the name 'Roger Ebert' is the subject of two separate registered trademarks, one for his name alone and one for RogerEbert.com. 

In short- blame it on the lawyers.  We're always the cause!

[Caramba]

My lowest rated quiz ever is still up and it contains the name and the "thumbs up" phrase.  hmm...

[Hejman]

I just clicked on the link and it looks like since the time you posted your quiz has been changed to remove that reference, since it's now gone.  This would, again, be consistent with the scenario I have laid out up above, since both "thumb's up" and "two thumb's up" have active trademark registrations. 

The wizarding world had their "He Who Shall Not Be Named".  Apparently the quiz-taking world has theirs too.

[iglew]

Thanks for your thoughts, Hejman.

This quiz is an interesting case in point: http://www.sporcle.com/games/druhutch/terriblecagefilms

[needapausebutton]

But, what'll really be interesting -- is to see what happens to the Ebert empire, when Sesame Street decides to challenge all uses of the name "Bert"...