therealshell
01-07-2010, 12:03 AM
As Google Inc. launches its Nexus One phone, one call that the company hasn't made is to the family members of science-fiction author Philip K. Dick, who complain the device's name infringes on one of Mr. Dick's most famous novels.
"We feel this is a clear infringement of our intellectual-property rights," said Isa Dick Hackett, a daughter of Mr. Dick and the chief executive of Electric Shepherd Productions, an arm of the Dick estate devoted to adapting the late author's works.
"Our legal team is dealing head-on with this," she said Tuesday. An attorney for the estate declined to elaborate on what legal steps it has taken.
Mr. Dick's 1968 novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?," which served as the basis for the 1982 cult film "Blade Runner," follows a bounty hunter chasing androids known as Nexus-6 models.
Ms. Hackett believes Google referenced that work in coming up with the name for its new phone, but the company never called her family or attorneys for permission to license the name.
A Google spokesman declined to comment.
"We feel this is a clear infringement of our intellectual-property rights," said Isa Dick Hackett, a daughter of Mr. Dick and the chief executive of Electric Shepherd Productions, an arm of the Dick estate devoted to adapting the late author's works.
"Our legal team is dealing head-on with this," she said Tuesday. An attorney for the estate declined to elaborate on what legal steps it has taken.
Mr. Dick's 1968 novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?," which served as the basis for the 1982 cult film "Blade Runner," follows a bounty hunter chasing androids known as Nexus-6 models.
Ms. Hackett believes Google referenced that work in coming up with the name for its new phone, but the company never called her family or attorneys for permission to license the name.
A Google spokesman declined to comment.