Behind the Line: Let’s play, Sony…

BTL

I’ve long held the opinion that if you follow a field closely enough for a long enough time you’ll run into moments that show you all kinds of other things that you wouldn’t have considered a part of that field.  Sony making an effort to trademark “Let’s Play” is one of those moments.  In a medium that is so rapidly transitioning to software as a service and digital distribution, it shouldn’t be a surprise that there will be some races to claim certain intellectual property.  Sony has been trying to reach out to the streamers and socialites of social media (social medi-ites?) out there.  Sony trademarking a term associated with this to brand their services makes sense, but “Let’s play” is already a generic term used by the community.  Are they overreaching?

 

Introduction to Trademark Law

The first thing we need to understand this is some basics about terms:

  • Patent – Protects a functional expression of an idea, not the idea itself.  A machine and its design may be patented, but a machine that does the same job with a completely different design does not violate the patent.  In games this would be violated if someone stole a game engine, or a console CPU design.
  • Copyright – Protects an expression of an idea such as paintings, movies, music, and so forth.  In games this would be violated if someone were to pirate a game.
  • Trademark – Protects a symbol that indicates the source of the good or service.  In games, this would be violated if I were to release a game and tag it with “Now you’re playing with power!”, or it included Mario in the art.
I have no idea how these people didn't get sued into oblivion.

Speaking of using Mario, I have no idea how these people didn’t get sued into oblivion.

When applying, there are plenty of reasons the USPTO can deny it, though the one that instantly leaps to our minds is this one:

A generic term is the common name for the products or services in connection with which it is used, such as “salt” when used in connection with sodium chloride. A generic term is not capable of serving the essential trademark function of distinguishing the products or services of a business from the products or services of other businesses, and therefore cannot be afforded any legal protection. This is because there has to be some term which may generally be used by anyone—including other manufacturers—to refer to a product without using some organization’s proprietary trademark.

This certainly would seem to apply to “Let’s Play” though, doesn’t it?

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One Response to Behind the Line: Let’s play, Sony…

  1. Kynetyk says:

    And it looks like the entire notion is now dead.

    http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/264512/Sonys_Lets_Play_trademark_looking_dead_after_second_rejection.php

    “The USPTO found that evidence suggests the term “Let’s Play” is a generic term in the game indsutry, and Sony can’t trademark it.”

    We’ll discuss more on next week’s BTL Radio

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