1088
submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Meta given 30 days to cease using the name Threads by company that trademarked it 11 years ago::undefined

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I don't like Meta, but this is fucking ridiculous. You can't just trademark a word.

[-] [email protected] 60 points 8 months ago

Yes you can, that is the definition of what a trademark is.

Could you imagine 20 different brands of Coke on the shelf?

The usage is specific to a market, however. For example, Delta Airlines and Delta Faucets. Both trademark "Delta."

[-] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago
[-] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I see tugas are in the place. Nice.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

So you could hava "Delta decent airlines" and "Delta fucking shit piss-stained seats threadbare aircraft $15 50ml Coke cans" then?

Totally different market sectors.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Could you imagine 20 different brands of Coke on the shelf?

Yes because that's exactly how it is in Germany. Coke isn't a trademark. CokaCola is.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago

You literally can. That's what trade marks are.

You can't copyright a word. You can't patent a word. But you can trademark a word. Trademarking a word gives you the exclusive right to use that word to identify your products but only within the specific market it is registered in.

A few more examples of trade marked words, apple, meta, cherry, target, zoom.

Are any of those trade names invalid simply because they are preexisting words? No. That's trademark law.

[-] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

Meta will disclaim the word Threads because it is too generic. So you can trademark whatever you want, but when someone comes along and wants to use it, if you've trademarked something generic, like Threads, then you go to court and presumably have them rule whether or not you can use it. And that probably will happen.

[-] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

According to Trademark law in many places you can.

Generally, you can only enforce your trademark (successfully) if the infringing group is in the same industry. So if I sold an educational service or toilet bowl cleaner called Apple the tech and music giant can't go after me for trademark infringement, though for music, computer tech and software they would have a case.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago
[-] [email protected] -4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I agree, but tell that to Rockstar.

EDIT: I assume the downvoters aren’t familiar with Rockstar suing every indie game dev who released a game with “Monster” or “Monsters” in the title.

this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2023
1088 points (98.3% liked)

Technology

55938 readers
3553 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS