December 16th, 2008:

As Christmas approaches, kids from all over the world prepare a list of all the things they want Santa Claus to drop down their chimneys on Christmas Eve. An 8-year-old boy from Juarez, Mexico, however, is neither wishing for a new robot or a new bicycle. He is wishing for a truce, a truce between the warring drug cartels in the city he lives in.

A simple wish

In an anonymous email circulating all over the Internet, a mysterious man who referred to himself as “tu tio” or your uncle, is extending his nephew’s simple yet inspirational request not only to dear St. Nick but to the rest of the world: three peaceful days in Juarez — three days that are free from irresponsible shootings, unmerciful killings, and unjustified executions.

A barbaric war

The people of Juarez in Mexico are currently suffering from the ongoing conflict between two of the biggest drug cartels in the city. The murder rates are not only increasing, but the killing methods are also equally worsening. The barbaric murders have ranged from a pig-masked man found hanging from a fence to a decapitated man found suspended on a bridge. Journalists cited drug violence, social poverty, and government corruption as the main causes of the Juarez conflict.

A young orphan

According to the uncle, the young boy is asking both Santa Claus and Jesus Christ to put an end to the violence in Juarez. The ongoing conflict, after all, has been a very traumatic experience for him. At a very young age, he witnessed how his own father was killed in the middle of the riot.

An important message

His son’s tragic experience inspired the uncle to compose the email. In his message, he asked the involved parties to put an end to this war for the sake of the children. He said, “Don’t let what happened to my nephew happen to any other children. If you are involved in this, I ask you, I beg you… think of a child you love and do it for them.”

Do you like inserting winking emoticons in your emails?

If you do, then be prepared to pay ten thousand dollars because Oleg Teterin is asking for license fees. Yes, a businessman from Russia is actually asking you to pay up every time you include the winking emoticon not only in your email messages but also in your text messages.

Patenting winking emoticons

Teterin, who is the current president of the Superfone mobile ad company, is claiming that the Rospatent federal agency of Russia recently granted him the trademark for the winking emoticon. The winking emoticon is composed of three punctuation marks: a semi-colon, a dash, and a closing parenthesis. When viewed sideways, it really does depict a winking smiley face.

Charging license fees

Teterin is serious about owning the trademark of the winking emoticon. In fact, he even revealed that all companies will be sent legal warnings in case they use the winking emoticon without asking for his permission first. “Legal use will be possible after buying an annual license from us,” he said. The reported amount that Teterin is going to charge for the license fees of the winking emoticon goes for around tens of thousands of dollars.

If you are an avid user of the winking emoticon, then you don’t have anything to worry about. The license fees for the winking emoticon is only directed at firms and companies. “I want to highlight that this is only directed at corporations, companies that are trying to make a profit without the permission of the trademark holder,” he revealed during an interview that was shown on the Russian television channel NTV.

Trademarking other emoticons

The Russian businessman’s sudden interest in trademarking emoticons, however, doesn’t end with the winking smiley face or its dash-less version: ;). In fact, Teterin is actually planning on getting the trademarks for two smiling emoticons: and :).