The Hacker Scouts understand that Congress gave the Boy Scouts the exclusive right to use the “emblems, badges, descriptive or designating marks, and words or phrases” that they adopt. 36 U.S.C § 30905. As courts have recognized, however, the word “scout” is “a word of common speech, which all are entitled prima facie to use,” and therefore “there might be some question whether the word ‘scout,’ taken by itself, [is] within the ‘words or phrases’ used by the [Boy Scouts] in carrying out [their] program.” Adolph Kastor & Bros., v. Federal Trade Commission, 138 F. 2d 824, 826 (2d Cir. 1943). Put simply, “[w]hether the statute is meant to go so far as to protect a single word broken from its context might be open to debate.” Id.
The generic nature of the word “scout” is borne out by the number of U.S. organizations using it in their names. A quick Google search reveals the Code Scouts, the Frontier Market Scouts, the Health Care Scouts, the Dog Scouts, the Madison Scouts, the Xeniascouts, the Earthscouts, the 55th Cascadia Scouts and any number of other “scout” organizations, many of which have been around for years. The Hacker Scouts would very much like to be part of that group and continue to use “scout” in its name.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: 100 CircuitPython Community Libraries, a New Arduino UNO and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
