MadOnion Pwns U!

Originally Posted by Oldie

I don't know that it's art as much as a typo.

Why don't they just apply for frag while they're at it? Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between MadOnion, and The Onion.

Well, it may have begun as a typo, but it's now part of the vernacular. It's not really any different than a good portion of the words in the English language. It has to have been used prior to Futuremark's first use of it, therefore they're SOL.

Originally Posted by GilmourD

Can they claim a trademark on something that has copious proof of prior art?

It's a trademark, not a copyright. A trademark's purpose is to identify the source of a product or service.

This isn't a copyright or a patent. There's no such thing as "prior art" with trademarks.

Originally Posted by kumquat

Well.

They say they're trademarking it so that no one else can trademark it and sue them for using it.

Do you honestly believe that though? I'd put money down that if anyone else came out with a product that had the word Pwnage in it, that they'd get the pants sued off of them (should this crap actually make it through the TM office.)

Originally Posted by wfalcon

Do you honestly believe that though? I'd put money down that if anyone else came out with a product that had the word Pwnage in it, that they'd get the pants sued off of them (should this crap actually make it through the TM office.)

It doesn't matter what I believe. It's the law.

I could start a clothing line called Craptastic Clothing and trademark it no problem because no one else is using "Craptastic Clothing" to sell products. No one is out there using the word "Craptastic " as an identifying mark on their products or services.

Therefore, no one could sue me for it. It doesn't matter that "craptastic" is a common word. There's no "prior art" on trademarks.

I was surprised when Futuremark sent me that link directly. Spin control FTL!

http://www.purepwnage.com/ Hmm....

Na, nothing associated with gaming and pwnage already out there.....

Great video - http://www.purepwnage.com/episodes/s2/3/

That's funny. There's a game store I passed on a road trip called 'Pwnage'. I wonder how that battle would go down....

Originally Posted by kumquat

It doesn't matter what I believe. It's the law.

I could start a clothing line called Craptastic Clothing and trademark it no problem because no one else is using "Craptastic Clothing" to sell products. No one is out there using the word "Craptastic " as an identifying mark on their products or services.

Therefore, no one could sue me for it. It doesn't matter that "craptastic" is a common word. There's no "prior art" on trademarks.

Correct. But once you've started Craptastic Clothing and trademarked it, what happens if I come along and create Craptastic Computers, Inc?

Originally Posted by wfalcon

Correct. But once you've started Craptastic Clothing and trademarked it, what happens if I come along and create Craptastic Computers, Inc?

Then you trademark that.

The trademark application contains the industries and services to which it applies.

Basically, as long as the trademark does not cause confusion about the source of the goods or service, it's OK to use.

I think its bad enough for one to use that phrase in their game let alone trademark it. What are they gonna have that pop up on screen when you kill or do something cool in their games? Or are they sad enough to name the actual game that

Originally Posted by kumquat

Then you trademark that.

The trademark application contains the industries and services to which it applies.

Basically, as long as the trademark does not cause confusion about the source of the goods or service, it's OK to use.

I think therein lies the problem. Given our litigious society, how many people have been sued/forced into not using a name despite offering goods and services that are completely unrelated?

Kyle's kicking them on the mark and disrupting their future.

Well, Paris Hilton trademarked (or tried to) the phrase "That's Hot", and Donald Trump trademarked the phrase "You're Fired"...so why not?

I see outrage over the trademark of a silly word like "Pwnage" but where was Kyle to protect "the community" when "3D Gamers" was trademarked, or when "PC Gamer" was trademarked", or "hardcore gamer" was trademarked, or "gamer" or "gamers"? Has Kyle sued to bring these terms back to "the community"? Did anyone mention "ROFL", "OMG", "WTF", "FTW", "LOL", and "noob" are also trademarked? It appears some people are confusing trademarks with copyrights. Not surprisingly it appears Kyle's rant was meant generate controversy and therefore page hits, rather that bring any enlightenment at all to the issue.

Find more of your favorite words and/or phrases that are trademarked here: Trademark Electronic Search System.

There's even a magazine called PC Gamer. Obviously that's trademarked.

I agree with you, eRacer. This is much ado about nothing. PC Gamer doesn't sue people who say the phrase, because they can't. You can only protect your trademark insofar as it protects the use of the trademark to identify products. Having a trademark on a word or phrase doesn't remove anyone's ability to use that word or phrase in speech.

Originally Posted by eRacer

I see outrage over the trademark of a silly word like "Pwnage" but where was Kyle to protect "the community" when "3D Gamers" was trademarked, or when "PC Gamer" was trademarked", or "hardcore gamer" was trademarked, or "gamer" or "gamers"? Has Kyle sued to bring these terms back to "the community"? Did anyone mention "ROFL", "OMG", "WTF", "FTW", "LOL", and "noob" are also trademarked? It appears some people are confusing trademarks with copyrights. Not surprisingly it appears Kyle's rant was meant generate controversy and therefore page hits, rather that bring any enlightenment at all to the issue.

Find more of your favorite words and/or phrases that are trademarked here: Trademark Electronic Search System.

I guess Kyle hit your cornflakes with his pee afterall!!

Originally Posted by eRacer

I see outrage over the trademark of a silly word like "Pwnage" but where was Kyle to protect "the community" when "3D Gamers" was trademarked, or when "PC Gamer" was trademarked", or "hardcore gamer" was trademarked, or "gamer" or "gamers"? Has Kyle sued to bring these terms back to "the community"? Did anyone mention "ROFL", "OMG", "WTF", "FTW", "LOL", and "noob" are also trademarked? It appears some people are confusing trademarks with copyrights. Not surprisingly it appears Kyle's rant was meant generate controversy and therefore page hits, rather that bring any enlightenment at all to the issue.

Find more of your favorite words and/or phrases that are trademarked here: Trademark Electronic Search System.

Actually I would have never commented on the matter had Jukka not come out with that bullshit explanation. Just tell us the truth and get over it. 3DMark sent the comment over to the simple news post we made this weekend.

As for my "rant," and generating controversy, guess it worked on you eh?

Is there anyway we can switch their trademark app to "n00btard" instead?

Originally Posted by Kyle_Bennett

Actually I would have never commented on the matter had Jukka not come out with that bullshit explanation. Just tell us the truth and get over it. 3DMark sent the comment over to the simple news post we made this weekend.

As far as I can tell it doesn't sound like a BS excuse at all. It appears at some point Futuremark is going to use "Pwnage" as a brand name or slogan in future product(s). In order to do so they need to trademark it before someone else in the industry does. It is similar to registering a domain name for a product or company name BEFORE that product or company name becomes public knowledge so cybersquatters don't claim it first.

As for my "rant," and generating controversy, guess it worked on you eh?

Yes, I understand you are doing what is probably best for your business. In my opinion in this case it comes off as following the herd mentality which is something which HardOCP has taken pride to avoid, at least in its benchmarking articles.

Interestingly enough, when I bashed Futuremark and Tero Sarkkinen for its letter back in the day, I got banned from the forums. Here, years later, they do something stupid again, and the main page has a public bashing by Kyle.

Ironic, but I guess just goes to show how this is Kyle-Country.

I'm not bitter or anything.