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by sschueller 13 days ago
So what about the existing AT protocol modems use?
5 comments

That's the Hayes command set[1]. Hayes was a registered trademark up until 2022[2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_AT_command_set [2] https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/search/search-results/73319703

I don't remember ever hearing that called AT proto or AT protocol, just AT commands or AT commandset etc.

Even though I'm that old, even I don't care even if it was anyway.

...as long as the reason is what it looks like. Rather have Bluesky claim it for the purpose of having the officially recognized legal authority to grant usage to everyone else, than have a rando douche company think they can claim it to extort or simply inhibit everyone else.

No one cares.
I had to shake my head for a moment as I was instantly transported back to 1998 with that comment lol
Anyone who's worked with cell modems knows that AT commands are very much still a thing, see here for example: https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/127000_127099/127007/17...
They use AT command set, not protocol.
I've heard it referred to as "AT command protocol." I googled it myself and this terminology is common enough.
... which is a protocol, thus pre-existing colloquial use of "AT protocol" that makes this trademark questionable.
The mere "pre-existing use" of a word or phrase does not disqualify a trademark.

Maybe you're thinking of prior art in a trademark? Or trademark genericization? But neither would apply here.

Is this a real thing? I don't think I've ever heard "AT protocol" before Bluesky. My first modem was 300 baud, so I wasn't totally out of the loop on this. DDG finds four hits for the phrase before 2020 used to describe the Hayes command set.
It is an incredibly common comment to be made on posts about atproto, so there certainly are a lot of people here for whom it was a thing.
I did a search and there are like three such comments in the past year, including this one.
Depending on how you search specifically, you may or may not get all of them. For example, if you searched for "at protocol" specifically, you wouldn't get comments that are like "I thought we were talking about the old modem protocol!" and similar.

Anyway I don't think that it means that atproto was misnamed or anything, just that this thread isn't the only time people have brought this up.