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Peloton is probably the weakest example possible of this since they took a very common and established word (for a group of people riding together) as their bra

by RC_ITR 4y ago

Peloton is probably the weakest example possible of this since they took a very common and established word (for a group of people riding together) as their brand. In more practical terms, back when PTON was still a stock darling, they constantly pushed how engaged their community was via Facebook groups, etc. so going after this would probably be a death knell signal that the magic is completely gone.

chrisbaker98 4y ago
Am I the only one who had no idea until now that "peloton" is an existing dictionary word and not just a brand name?
- elteto 4y ago
  It means “platoon” in Spanish.
  - ioblomov 4y ago
    And French.
- mcintyre1994 4y ago
  Probably not, but if you ever watch a cycling race with commentary on TV then you’ll hear it used. I’d guess since they expanded out from just cycling it’s probably not super unusual for people to come across them first though.
- Lev1a 4y ago
  I've seen it a bunch of times on TV when my father watched Tour de France, Giro, etc.
sowbug 4y ago
Unfortunately, whether the word has a prior common meaning doesn't have a lot of bearing on a trademark infringement claim. The main test is whether a reasonable consumer would confuse the two marks. Plaid, Simple, Clear, Square are all strong brands and trademarks, for example. In this case, Peloton would argue that their name in the product name and domain might reasonably confuse someone into thinking that the two services come from the same company. That said, your final point is the critical one. It would be a poor business move for Peloton to rattle their sabers at someone helping build a community around their product.
- RC_ITR 4y ago
  > Plaid, Simple, Clear, Square are all strong brands and trademarks, for example. Sure, those are brands. I agree. “Screen-scrape”, “I don’t know what simple is so it can’t be that great of a brand”,“Concierge” and “POS” would be bad brands that would likely fail trademark (in the same way peloton is a bad brand with limited trademark ability)

by RC_ITR 4y ago

chrisbaker98 4y ago

Am I the only one who had no idea until now that "peloton" is an existing dictionary word and not just a brand name?

elteto 4y ago
It means “platoon” in Spanish.
- ioblomov 4y ago
  And French.
mcintyre1994 4y ago
Probably not, but if you ever watch a cycling race with commentary on TV then you’ll hear it used. I’d guess since they expanded out from just cycling it’s probably not super unusual for people to come across them first though.
Lev1a 4y ago
I've seen it a bunch of times on TV when my father watched Tour de France, Giro, etc.

sowbug 4y ago

Unfortunately, whether the word has a prior common meaning doesn't have a lot of bearing on a trademark infringement claim. The main test is whether a reasonable consumer would confuse the two marks. Plaid, Simple, Clear, Square are all strong brands and trademarks, for example. In this case, Peloton would argue that their name in the product name and domain might reasonably confuse someone into thinking that the two services come from the same company. That said, your final point is the critical one. It would be a poor business move for Peloton to rattle their sabers at someone helping build a community around their product.

RC_ITR 4y ago
> Plaid, Simple, Clear, Square are all strong brands and trademarks, for example. Sure, those are brands. I agree. “Screen-scrape”, “I don’t know what simple is so it can’t be that great of a brand”,“Concierge” and “POS” would be bad brands that would likely fail trademark (in the same way peloton is a bad brand with limited trademark ability)