SamaIt’s been a bit of a mystery where the Sama family name comes from. It’s southern Italian, and apparently exists in two cities in Italy. All of the Samas from Boston come from St. Andrea. Family speculation about the origin of the name mostly centered around the Greek island of Samos. Though I suspect it likely has more to do with the Samnites. Ancestry.com says it comes from the Bible, though I haven’t been able to find the reference. In Arabic, Sama means heaven or sky. And of course, it is also the proper name of Satan. I’ve long noticed an unusually large number of hits in my logs from Saudi Arabia. I always assumed that this was because my name is the same as the acronym for the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. Fair enough. But now I suspect that some Saudi, accidentally happening across my blog, has decided to steal the look and feel, and apply it to their new airline venture.
According to Wikipedia, they started flying in March 2007, roughly four years after the launch of this blog (their own press release says Feb 2007). Whois shows their domain name as having been registered in November, 2005. Look at the lettering of the name, “Sama”. Check out the blue squares. It almost looks like it could be a product associated with this blog, doesn’t it? Anyone think I have a trademark suit here? |
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2 Responses to “Sama”
April 27th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Have you trademarked your name? If not, I wouldn’t think so
For the record, I know nothing whatsoever about trademark law.
April 27th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
It’s not the name so much as the use of the blue squares and similar lettering. My name is actually a word in Arabic. Can’t stop it from being used exactly…
You don’t need to have your trademark registered to be able to sue, but it does help. My only issue with it is whether anything would be recoverable (or if I could prove damages) against a domestic Saudi carrier.
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