The Windwalker is now the Airbender

[Mike Griffin]

I had planned to name my new design which will be released early next year the Windwalker.

I had a person contact me who said he built a couple of planes 20 years or so ago and called them Windwalkers and asked me not to use the name even though the models were never published and just flown in some contests. In order to keep this from escalating, I have decided to rename the plane because this person seemed insistent that I not use the name even though he had no legal claim to it.  I decided that the issue was not worth it.

My new design will be called the Air ~ Bender.  Same plane, different name.  I plan to start on a prototype soon and will have some pictures for you as the build progresses.

Again, thank you for your patronage and support.

Mike

[Larry Fernandez]

I would call it the Windwalker and not concern myself with someone being offended.
The model was not published or kitted so he has no rights to the name.
And since this guy wants to make an issue of it, I would do it just to pi$$ him off.
But thats just the way I am.  

Larry, Buttafucco Stunt Team

[Bill Morell]

I agree with Larry! Like there are no other planes in the world that don't have the same name!?!?!

[Mike Griffin]

Hey Larry and Bill

Thank You both.  I decided it was not worth my time to argue with someone who had that kind of thought process although it did aggravate me to a great extent.  When the movie The Last Airbender came out, it just hit me that Airbender would be a good name for a stunt ship so I decided I would rename the model that. 

I appreciate you guys and your support.  Hopefully I will be back and offering the Airbender By the first of next year.

Mike

[Dan McEntee]

  You could always seperate the name and call it "The Wind Walker". Then see what he has to say about it.
  Good luck with the project. Hope you sell a thousand of them!
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Randy Powell]

I always find it funny when people get themselves into a twist over stuff like this. Hey, call it anything you want.

[Greg L Bahrman]

Airbender .......You could always call it the......"Wind Stalker"......That sounds kind of cool.....Grins

[Bill Little]

HI Mike,

While is had to be exasperating dealing with the guy, I commend you on taking the high road.

There have been MANY stunt planes over the years with the same name (three different "Larks" at about the exact same time for example!) as you well know.  Still, not having to continuously deal with someone quibbling about a name is going to be better for you.

(of course, I would have probably gone ahead anyway, just to be obtuse! LOL!!)

best of luck with the new design.

Bill

[Bill Gruby]

 You did the admirable thing here Mike for sure, but I have to agree also that it is your model and you name it. If there was no legal claim to the name all he can do is ask you not to use it for what ever reason and then it is up to you.
 Myself I would go back to "Windwalker". You were comfortable with it use it. I saw the post where he said he would discuss it by email only. No one has the right to tell you what you name your model if they do not own the name. Quite obviously he does not.
 It's your call Mike not his.

  "Billy G"   

[Bob Kruger]

Mike;

Its time to man-up.  

There are other people in this world named "Mike Griffin".  That doesn't mean you have to change your name.

They can have their Wind Walker, and you can have yours.  And if they don't like it, they can find a counselor/minister/priest/shrink to talk to.  It's their problem, not yours.

Bob

I had planned to name my new design which will be released early next year the Windwalker.

I had a person contact me who said he built a couple of planes 20 years or so ago and called them Windwalkers and asked me not to use the name even though the models were never published and just flown in some contests. In order to keep this from escalating, I have decided to rename the plane because this person seemed insistent that I not use the name even though he had no legal claim to it.  I decided that the issue was not worth it.

My new design will be called the Air ~ Bender.  Same plane, different name.  I plan to start on a prototype soon and will have some pictures for you as the build progresses.

Again, thank you for your patronage and support.

Mike

[Leester]

Mike: I know your a gentleman and wouldn't say it, BUT as R. Lee would say tell that " MambyPamby Jackwagon to stuff it, and live with it!!    

[thomas farmer]

 Mike is making the right choice, I know the person that built the two Windwalker's about twenty years ago, and the last one  was a very well constructed and well finished model. Mike your kit's are great and I am confident that your design will fly very well. Forerunner

[Dick Byron]

It must be BW? Nope confirmed by phone.

[FLOYD CARTER]

"Airbender" is a better name.  Alludes to the fact that space is curved (according to Einstein).

Floyd

[john e. holliday]

Would have responded on this earlier, but, Church comes first.  I remember the two well noted designers that came up with a name for planes at about the same time.  To me I like "AIRBENDER" better.  Put me down for one sight unseen.   

[Mike Griffin]

Thanks for your support guys. It means a lot to me.  I was just thinking last night how many different times the Thunderbird, Skylark, Spitfire,  etc etc.   have been used by different people and kit makers.

I am not losing any sleep over it and I look forward to getting the AIRBENDER project going.  I want to give credit to Allen Brickhaus for his invaluable design assistance.  Allen is one of the best as a design consultant and his help was invaluable to me on this upcoming project.  Also Watt Moore who did the CAD work on the AIRBENDER is one of the nicest people I have ever known and has done a superb job with the CAD files.  I will have to say Watt has the patience of Job when it came to working with me because of me making changes to the plan.

My dad once told me. "don't sweat the small stuff.....and it's mostly small stuff".

Mike

[Larry Fernandez]

Well Mike, you are trully a better man than me. And just to prove it, Im going to name my next plane the Windwalker.
I cant wait to hear from that Mamby Pamby Jackwagon.
In fact I'll see to it that its the ugliest plane I can possibly build.

Larry, Buttafucco Stunt Team

[Randy Powell]

Hey Mike, my new ship is underway and I have a name for it. But now I think I will not say since there seems to people that complain about such things. I like the name I chose and will stick with it.

Several years ago, I built a plane and had already had masks made with the name and such. About the time I was ready to shoot the masks, a guy I respect published a plane with the same name. I thought about it for a bit, then just put the masks away and chose another name. I don't think the other builder would have objected, but decided that my new name was better anyway and went with that.

[PerttiMe]

FWIW... Airbender sounds good to me: more unique or distinctive than Windwalker.

[Bill Gruby]

 If I had named a plane "Windwalker" and 20 years later someone else came up with the name, I would email or just post right here that I had come up with the name back when and would be honored if that new person wanted to use it. He or she would have my blessing. What makes the name so "Special"?

  "Billy G" 

[Mike Griffin]

 I thought I would post this for anyone who might be interested in seeing what the U.S. Govt. Copyright Office has to say about copyrighting a name. The following link will take you to their sight dealing with this issue of copyrighting a name. The short answer is that you cannot copyright a name, title or slogan. The link shows you the whole PDF file and I am cutting a pasting a short excerpt from in on here.

This Is the link http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ34.pdf

Here is a short excerpt from the government sight

"Copyright law does not protect names, titles, or short phrases or expressions. Even
if a name, title, or short phrase is novel or distinctive or lends itself to a play on
words, it cannot be protected by copyright. The Copyright Office cannot register
claims to exclusive rights in brief combinations of words such as:
• Names of products or services
• Names of businesses, organizations, or groups (including the names of
performing groups)
• Pseudonyms of individuals (including pen or stage names)
• Titles of works
• Catchwords, catchphrases, mottoes, slogans, or short advertising expressions

[john e. holliday]

I hope you are not thinking of going back!  I have grown to like "Airbender".   

[Dalton Hammett]

Hi Mike

    The great thing I'm reading into thiis is you will be back to makeing kits again soon   Thats GOOD news !!

Dalton H.

[Kim Mortimore]

.....And since this guy wants to make an issue of it, I would do it just to pi$$ him off.
But thats just the way I am......
Well Mike, you are truly a better man than me. And just to prove it, Im going to name my next plane the Windwalker.
I cant wait to hear from that Mamby Pamby Jackwagon.  In fact I'll see to it that its the ugliest plane I can possibly build.

Larry, Buttafucco Stunt Team

Hey Larry,
This reminds me of a "Taxi" episode where Louie is complaining that everybody has a "holier than thou" attitude toward him. Alex replies, "Well Louie, that's because thou art so easy to be holier than."    Also, the ugliest plane you can possibly build is an 18 pointer--maybe!

Mike,
How about Windwalker in a different language (this is according to the Google online translator):

French:  Marcheur de Vent
Italian:  Camminatore del Vento (pretty sexy, eh?)
Spanish:  Caminante del Viento
Danish:  Vinden Rollator
Swahili:  Kutembea Upepo
Croatian:  Vítr Procházka
Icelandic:  Vindur Ganga (that last word sounds like a reference to something...uhh...different).
Russian:  ветер ходить
Greek:  ανέμου με τα πόδια
Chinese:  風走
Martian:  Oops!  Google can't handle it.  

[Mike Griffin]

I hope you are not thinking of going back!  I have grown to like "Airbender".   

NO NO DOC...I am sticking with Airbender.....

Mike

[Mike Griffin]

Hi Mike

    The great thing I'm reading into thiis is you will be back to makeing kits again soon   Thats GOOD news !!

Dalton H.

Hopefully in January Dalton....Just had to take some time to work some things out...I miss not doing it too.

Mike

[Mike Griffin]

Hey Larry,
This reminds me of a "Taxi" episode where Louie is complaining that everybody has a "holier than thou" attitude toward him. Alex replies, "Well Louie, that's because thou art so easy to be holier than."    Also, the ugliest plane you can possibly build is an 18 pointer--maybe!

Mike,
How about Windwalker in a different language (this is according to the Google online translator):

French:  Marcheur de Vent
Italian:  Camminatore del Vento (pretty sexy, eh?)
Spanish:  Caminante del Viento
Danish:  Vinden Rollator
Swahili:  Kutembea Upepo


You may be on to something Kim...I kinda like the French translation.   

Mike
Croatian:  Vítr Procházka
Icelandic:  Vindur Ganga (that last word sounds like a reference to something...uhh...different).
Russian:  ветер ходить
Greek:  ανέμου με τα πόδια
Chinese:  風走
Martian:  Oops!  Google can't handle it.  

[Harleyman]

Mike,  About 10 years ago, I built a paper airplane and named it Airbender, so you better not use that name.   
I am the boss of you and that name is mine, you cannot use it.   
You need to think of something else, like Thunderbird . . . oh wait, . . . Nobler . . . no, . . . Magician . . . crap   

I've already used up all the names, so you just cannot name your airplane and I'm taking my ball and going home.

               

[Larry Fernandez]

 Also, the ugliest plane you can possibly build is an 18 pointer--maybe!




[/quote]

I have a few weeks vacation comming my way,
I think that if I spend a couple of weeks with Antone and Eric Rule, I could learn to build ugly planes. It cant be that hard.

Larry, Buttafucco Stunt Team

[Mike Griffin]

You guys are giving me some good belly laughs.....

Larry, Eric and I have had some really great phone conversations about all this.  He has come up with some good stuff.  I think he is one sick puppy.  In response to that he would say "And the problem is....?"  Can't ya just hear him now?

Mike

[Gene Martine]

 
 Mike:
 Airbender sounds like something coming out of the wrong end!!!!!!!

[Larry Cunningham]

OMG Gene is right!

"Whewie! THAT was a real air bender!" ;->

L.

"Electricity is really just organized lightning." -George Carlin

[john e. holliday]

This has to be the best thread going.   

[minnesotamodeler]

I named one of my designs "SkyWriter", then after publishing it found out the name had been used years before.  Should have known, it's too good a name.  But I left it the same anyhow, too late by then to change it.  No one complained at me yet. (that's not a challenge, guys...)

[Bill Little]

I named one of my designs "SkyWriter", then after publishing it found out the name had been used years before.  Should have known, it's too good a name.  But I left it the same anyhow, too late by then to change it.  No one complained at me yet. (that's not a challenge, guys...)

Yep, the Chinese World Champion plane was the Skywriter back in the '90s.  The pilot now lives in Canada.

Big Bear

[minnesotamodeler]

Oh well.  He's never gonna hear of my little plane anyhow.

[john e. holliday]

Also remember they are two completely different size planes.   What fuel he uses for a flight, you can probably make a half dozen.   

[Bill Gruby]

 Question --- How come the gentleman has not come forward to express his position on this? He is a registered member here. He has also been logged in while this thread has been posted. Just wonderin OUT LOUD.   

  "Billy G" 

[Randy Ryan]

Way back a long time ago I sketched up a Mustang stunter I called Mustunt. Started it but never finished it. Later Al Rabe came out with his Mustunt and I thought it was really cool that someone else, especially someone prominent, would use the same name. Now he never heard it, because I never did anything with it, I just thought that was a cool coincidence.

[Kim Mortimore]

Way back a long time ago I sketched up a Mustang stunter I called Mustunt. Started it but never finished it. Later Al Rabe came out with his Mustunt and I thought it was really cool that someone else, especially someone prominent, would use the same name. Now he never heard it, because I never did anything with it, I just thought that was a cool coincidence.

There was also another Mustunt, by a guy named Eric Bjornwall, published in Aeromodeler (UK) in 1965, which is included in the PAMPA Classic book, p.95.

[ChrisSarnowski]

The way I fly some days my plane should be called either the HairRaiser or the EyeCloser.

-Chris

[John Stiles]

I named a plane "CrowKiller" once......somebody in Hot Springs Arkansas wound up with it because I gave all my planes away to a new C/L club that was forming. I think we caused that to happen by flying our C/L planes at an R/C Fun-Fly. I have since built another one......

[FLOYD CARTER]

What's in a name?  You can always change the name later, and the plane will still fly exactly the same!

Years ago, I built a Trivial Pursuit.  I wasn't fond of that name, so I called it "KORO".

Now, if you perhaps served in Korea or Japan, you might know that "koro" means "the unwarranted fear that one's penis is shrinking."

I don't make this up, folks. I read it in an issue of Harper's magazine in the public library.  I laughed so hard that several people around me moved away.

Floyd 

[Larry Renger]

Even though I like to preface all my designs with "Sky" this or that, I bequeath to you the right to Sky Walker.   Surely this is a unique name never used before.   

[stephen hollier]

I know a person whom lives in Beaumont, Texas who designed a plane called Windwalker. When I lived there we would (2yrs ago) fly on Sundays with only one exception the designer of the Windwalker could not fly anymore because he would become dizzy. His long time friend would fly the plane. If this is the same plane it has beautifully lines, and is an I-beam wing.

[John Stiles]

Oh...here it is... ......as I was about to suggest; you could cut off the "air" and chop off the "er" save the BenD, and add "over"! That gives you the "Ben Dover" [say it three times quickly] catchy huh?

[john e. holliday]

Going thru this again, it just hit me.  How many remember flying late in the evening trying for one more flight when a vicious little/little bigger feathered friend would attack your plane when you got above 45 degrees?  Yep, the "Nighthawk".  Took a few feathers every so often.  But, I guess that one has been used by the combat folks already.

[Mike Griffin]

The way I fly some days my plane should be called either the HairRaiser or the EyeCloser.

-Chris

Chris that is funny...I don't care who you are (as Larry The Cable Guy would say)

[Larry Cunningham]

What's in a name?  You can always change the name later, and the plane will still fly exactly the same!

Years ago, I built a Trivial Pursuit.  I wasn't fond of that name, so I called it "KORO".

Now, if you perhaps served in Korea or Japan, you might know that "koro" means "the unwarranted fear that one's penis is shrinking."

I don't make this up, folks. I read it in an issue of Harper's magazine in the public library.  I laughed so hard that several people around me moved away.

Floyd  

Floyd,

Nine months on Misawa AFB, northern Honshu, Japan, in 1967 and I hadn't heard this. My "Japanese" fluency consisted of learning the phrase (phonetic) "Kore-wa otoko de su.." which we were told meant "I am a man" or perhaps "I am not an animal..". ? ;->

We also learned that while the suffix -san, say Floyd-san was similar to addressing someone as Mr. or Mrs. while particularly adored people (say a baby or Kyu Sakamoto ((singer of the hit Sukiyaki)) ) got the suffix -chan. As in Kyu-chan, or Larry-chan (from a bar maid in downtown Misawa).

Anyway, Floyd, you wouldn't pull our <third> leg about this would you? Or was someone pulling your leg? Hahah.

L.

"I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five." -Steven Wright

[Mike Griffin]

Floyd,

Nine months on Misawa AFB, northern Honshu, Japan, in 1967 and I hadn't heard this. My "Japanese" fluency consisted of learning the phrase (phonetic) "Kore-wa otoko de su.." which we were told meant "I am a man" or perhaps "I am not an animal..". ? ;->

We also learned that while the suffix -san, say Floyd-san was similar to addressing someone as Mr. or Mrs. while particularly adored people (say a baby or Kyu Sakamoto ((singer of the hit Sukiyaki)) ) got the suffix -chan. As in Kyu-chan, or Larry-chan (from a bar maid in downtown Misawa).

Anyway, Floyd, you wouldn't pull our <third> leg about this would you? Or was someone pulling your leg? Hahah.

L.

"I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five." -Steven Wright

Larry you didnt happen to work for the USAFSS (Security Service) while at Misawa..did you?