Dr. Who? Why, it's Dr Ann de Wees Allen!

Dr. Who?

So there's this woman, goes by the name Dr Ann de Wees Allen, who seems to think that she (Dr Ann de Wees Allen) can trademark her name (Dr Ann de Wees Allen). Not only that, but Dr Ann de Wees Allen is sending "cease and desist" letters to anyone who uses the name Dr Ann de Wees Allen in any way, shape or form. Apparently. Maybe I should try the same trick - there'd be a boatload of people who'd be SOL if I did, since my name is pretty common (just like me!).

Hallelujah! It's a miracle! Dr Ann de Wees Allen's website, which touts a miracle cure for something or the other, makes the trademark threat explicit, down to publishing the names of websites that have dared (shock, horror!) to use her name (Dr Ann de Wees Allen). Dr Ann de Wees Allen also displays a copy of the C&D letter. The lineage of the name Dr Ann de Wees Allen, we're told, comes from a royal house in England - see here. And, Dr Ann de Wees Allen lays claim to some rather dubious patents, without showing any specifics such as patent numbers, just a long laundry list of ... oh, hell, I really don't care. She (Dr Ann de Wees Allen) also seems to specialize in spelling errors, as can be seen at this page, where Dr Oz apparently says that diet sodas are "fattenting." The error is repeated here. Notably, Dr Ann de Wees Allen seems to specialize in poorly-edited websites - almost every page on every site is riddled with typos, spelling errors, and bad grammar. Oh well, whaddya gonna do? One wonders if Dr Ann de Wees Allen has also been able to trademark artwork such as the elegant (!) representation of her name (Dr Ann de Wees Allen) depicted above. One also wonders if Dr. Ann de Wuss Allen would be OK.

Technical note. Dr Ann de Wees Allen's website has some rather elementary Javascript that attempts to prevent one from copying text ... an ancient trick, one that any script kiddie knows how to overcome (hint: don't use your mouse). Right-clicking has also been suppressed - a dialog pops up saying "Copyright Protect!". Whatever that means.

Drag thinkin'... Someone made an interesting comment elsewhere - I quote: "It is not illegal to use trademarks, it is completely legal to used [sic] them to designate the actual trademarked thing. It is illegal to use a trademark to misrepresent a non-trademarked item as the 'real' trademarked item. So it would be a violation of trademark to dress up as Dr. Ann de Wees Allen, wear a Dr. Ann de Wees Allen mask and a nametag that says Dr. Ann de Wees Allen unless you actually are Dr. Ann de Wees Allen. So don’t do that." I see that there are some good pictures of Dr Ann de Wees Allen at her (Dr Ann de Wees Allen's) website, trowel-thick makeup and all. She (Dr Ann de Wees Allen) would look real good in drag.  Wouldn't it be fun for a drag queen to use the name Dr Ann de Wees Allen as a nom de plume for those, well, special occasions? Just sayin'...

Eat your chips. Here's another one of her websites, equally, erm, interesting. Apparently, computer chips are edible. It's here we learn that brains, as well as computers, can be damaged. Brain. Damaged.

Source-y! This came to light compliments of Techdirt, my amazing, reliable source for all web-related stupidity. You can read about our friend, Dr Ann de Wees Allen, here. There's also a fun blog entry about her (Dr Ann de Wees Allen) here. Should I receive any communiqué from Dr Ann de Wees Allen, I will most certainly let you know.

Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen
Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen
Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen
Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen
Oh dear, what happened there? I had a little accident ... my ctrl-v key stuck!

And, on a completely different subject, can you say "charlatan"? How about "paranoid"?