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mahatmakanejeeves

(60,969 posts) Fri Jan 7, 2022, 05:51 AM Jan 2022

Snap Files Lawsuit After Yearslong Effort to Trademark 'Spectacles'

That sound you hear is me scratching my head.

Snap, the parent company of the social-media app Snapchat, has sued the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over its rejection to trademark the word “spectacles” for the company’s wearable smart glasses

Link to tweet

Snap Files Lawsuit After Yearslong Effort to Trademark ‘Spectacles’
The social-media company is suing the patent office over its rejection of a trademark for Snapchat’s wearable smart glasses.

3 replies

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Snap Files Lawsuit After Yearslong Effort to Trademark 'Spectacles' (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Jan 2022 OP

That's a ridiculous lawsuit. "Spectacles" is a generic term, can't be trademarked Bernardo de La Paz Jan 2022 #1

"Spectacles" is a synonym for eyeglasses, used especially in Commonwealth countries. Eugene Jan 2022 #2

You don't need X-Ray Specs to see through this. mahatmakanejeeves Jan 2022 #3

Bernardo de La Paz

(50,922 posts)

1. That's a ridiculous lawsuit. "Spectacles" is a generic term, can't be trademarked

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Fri Jan 7, 2022, 06:04 AM

Jan 2022

It's not like "Windows", which was a metaphor, not a literal term. (However, windows was a software term used for a few years prior to Microsoft building on the research of Xerox PARC.)

It would be like somebody trying to trademark "Automobile" for a car brand. If you had, say, a walking exercise app, you could trademark that as AutoMobile because that would be a metaphor, not a literal term.

Eugene

(62,658 posts)

2. "Spectacles" is a synonym for eyeglasses, used especially in Commonwealth countries.

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Fri Jan 7, 2022, 06:38 AM

Jan 2022

They are not only trying to trademark a common noun, it's a common term in that very marketplace.

This is like trying to trademark "tyre" or "bonnet" for automotive use.

mahatmakanejeeves

(60,969 posts)

3. You don't need X-Ray Specs to see through this.

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Fri Jan 7, 2022, 06:43 AM

Jan 2022

Source: https://pixels.com/featured/x-ray-specs-100-reinvintaged.html

Also see: X-Ray Spex

and

X-ray specs

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