Sony Denied In Court
Author: S.A.
It never ceases to amaze the lengths to which companies will go to increase there business revenue, and Sony Entertainment is no exception to the rule. The company made an underhanded bid recently to try and coin the ever popular term of “Let’s Play” as there own. What the company hoped to gain from such a tactic can only be speculated on, but it likely had to do with the fact that the widely popular term is used everywhere these days and would generate the cooperate giant some serious extra cash.
However worry not young gamers, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has denied Sony’s bid once more for the rather over used term. The agency has stated that “Let’s Play” is merely descriptive in nature, due to it pertaining to video games in general. This likely ends Sony’s bid at the term, however they still have until June 29 of this year to respond to the verdict and come up with a valid reason under which to claim the terminology.
Sony’s initial claim was that it wanted the term for its “electronic transmission and streaming of video games via global and local computer networks,” among other uses. This was tossed aside by the USPTO when they found the term too similar to “Letz Play”, a mark that belongs to a Georgia company also engaged in the online gaming business. Sony persisted however, and this writer can’t help but see this as Sony’s way of either shutting down the term itself from the millions of gamers that use it, or cashing in on its success. There are an astronomical amount of Let’s Plays out on the internet currently and with Sony trying to make sure the term belongs to them, they could insert advertisements on every single video should the term be given to them.
Yes, we’re not that stupid Sony.
The companies continued pursuit of the term had the McArthur Law Firm, a L.A. based firm step in and file an objection. Which led to USPTO’s current ruling and Sony’s current disappointment. That said, shame on Sony for trying to steal from the gaming community like this. I for one am not impressed by them and their actions.
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