PAY TO USE "@"? YOU MUST BE JOKING

The Register pours vast quantities of scorn on a chancer by the name of Robert-Alan Lucht, who is invoicing his victims for annual licences to use the @ sign, in which he purports to own the international copyright. The “licence” covers internet and email use. The annual sums demanded are 30 euro for regular use, 20 euro for educational use and 10 euro for private use.



The IPKat is part appalled, part entranced. This ploy would appear to set new standards for brazen chutzpah. He would like to know, though, of any country in which an attempt to extract royalties from internet and email users for alleged copyright infringement is itself a legal wrong. Can any IPKat browsers oblige?



History of the @ sign here and here

More scams here

Scambusters here



Stop press (Friday 20 August): The IPKat has just received from one of its readers this link to a US trade mark for a rather attractively sexed-up version of the @ sign. Thanks for sending it in, John.