O'Reilly Network: Stephen Hawking & the Nutshell Series

Published on O'Reilly (http://www.oreilly.com/)
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/ask_tim/2001/hawking_1201.html
See this if you're having trouble printing code examples

Date: December 2001
From: Peter Teeson
To: Ask Tim
Subject: Stephen Hawking & the Nutshell Series

As a long-time purchaser of your excellent Nutshell series books, I was amazed to think that you had published Stephen Hawking's newest, popular book, The Universe in a Nutshell.

My eye was immediately drawn to it as I browsed the shelves in our local Chapters. Can you imagine my surprise when I discovered that you were NOT the publisher? Sigh. TANJ (There Ain't No Justice), as they used to say.

How could they have not come to you? I ask. Is there no honor amongst publishers? Will no one rid me of this infringement?

Respect,
Peter

P.S. I bought the (truly beautiful) book anyway since it sits nicely on my bedside table along with his previous, terse, little one about time. I think I even understand bits of it here and there. . . .

Hi Peter,

Yes, it sure would have been sweet if we could have published Hawking's book. He is one of the great geniuses of our time, and a compelling writer to boot.

"In a Nutshell" is a common phrase dating back to Shakespeare's "Hamlet". ("I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space. . . .") It has been used on many books. In particular, West has had a long-running series of "In a Nutshell" books on legal topics, and of course, there's the O'Reilly series of "In a Nutshell" books on computing topics.

Nutshell Handbook™ is a registered trademark of O'Reilly, though, and I think that we could make a good case of trademark infringement if anyone used the moniker "In a Nutshell" on a computer-related book, just as West could make a case if someone besides them did it on a legal book. While individual titles can't be copyrighted, and some phrases that are in common use can't be trademarked, their repeated use in a particular context and with a particular look and feel (or "trade dress") can in fact be protected.

The biggest obstacle to other publishers doing "In a Nutshell" computing titles is that they are harder to get right than most publishers are willing to work for. They require a great deal of attention to condensing the most important information down into a compact form, such that you have everything you need in a nutshell.

Tim

Got a question? Just ask!

Return to: Ask Tim