Oil company changes its name to "Pixar"

A Canadian oil company called Paramount Resources has changed its name to Pixar. Seriously.

Previously known as Paramount Resources, I guess the executives got tired of being named after one of Hollywood’s has-been brands. As far as I can tell, this is not a joke, there’s even a serious sounding press release composed without a hint of irony. It’s being reported in the wider media as well.

Oil Company renames itself Pixar (Thanks, John!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: Business • christ what an asshole • hollywood • oil • pixar • trademark

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Andrew Filipe

That’s hilarious.
awjt

“Finding Oil”
“Spill-E”
“A Barrel’s Life”
“Tankers”
“Down”
“Drill Story”
“Drill Story 2″
“Drill Story 3″
“Monsters, Inc.” (woops, couldn’t help myself)
Chuck

The company’s new mascot will be a little animated pumpjack hopping around your TV screen.
Agua_Caliente

Or, more accurately, Paramount Resources (not to be confused with Paramount Pictures) have created a subsidiary called Pixar Petroleum Corp (not to be confused with Pixar Animation Studios).
Tom Adams

…Should be “Touchstone”, surely?
http://twitter.com/Kbkibbe Kevin

They were going to name the company “Google” but one of the younger board members thought the term sounded vaguely familiar.
Dustin Ames

Mocked this up when I read the story. Looks like @boingboing-4ebccfb3e317c7789f04f7a558df4537:disqus and I were on the same page.
Brainspore

C’mon oil company executives, if you’re gonna rip off Pixar’s ideas for your name then at least go with the one that makes some sense.
EH

Aaaand every employee of Apple Corps chuckles at the irony.
L_Mariachi

My understanding is that made-up names enjoy a stronger degree of trademark protection than generic word marks even if there’s no overlap in the two product lines. So “Paramount” or or “Apple” or “Acme” might be fair game for companies not competing in the film, computer, or rocket-skate industries, but you’d still be on thin ice trying to sell Kleenex motorcycles or Xerox lingerie… or Pixar gasoline.
http://twitter.com/KnightNZ Steve Wells

Maybe it’ll be an acronym?

Pumping
Is
eXtinguishing
All
Resources
what_do_you_care

For accidental stock purchases by amateur investors?
Atrum

“No, Billy, you can’t change your name to ‘Batman’.”
CoffeeJedi

There’s an executive staffing agency called “The Tardis Group”, that does indeed have an office in London. I always wondered how they could pull that off without getting sued by the BBC. Isn’t that kind of like a company naming itself “Optimus Prime” or “The Death Star”?
Jesse Ewles

Good way to bury your Google search results, if you plan on getting a lot of bad press.
http://www.facebook.com/armyofgiantrobots Emily Ravich

This is one instance in which I will not mind Disney’s overly litigious nature, when all is said and done.