14 ms·
I'm a paid user of Threads[.com] – No trademark?
- moberley 3y agoI don't know when they added it but Threads, Inc now has a prominent "We are not associated with Instagram" near the top of the page at Threads.com.
- PaulHoule 3y agoFacebook has 269 registered trademarks https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe ... and "Threads" ain't one of them
- ronsor 3y agoTo this day I wonder if the trademark search site runs on Windows 98
- UseStrict 3y agoI'm sure they've upgrade since then, at least Windows 98 SE.
- PaulHoule 3y agoWindows ME? I worked at a place for six months where I worked on an impossible number of projects that were hosted on Windows particularly including the really strange such as hosted on MS Access. (Something that could work pretty well or pretty poorly depending on how it was configured.)
- PaulHoule 3y agoI worked on a patent search that was way better than the USPTO search and it was a lot of work. I'd imagine trademark search would be easier and it looks like you can get that out of a data dump just like you can for patents. https://bulkdata.uspto.gov/ https://bulkdata.uspto.gov/
- NotYourLawyer 3y agoWhat patent search? Does it still exist?
- PaulHoule 3y agoSee https://ip.com/ https://ip.com/ I don't know if it has a public demo anymore. The search engine used a neural network autoencoder for "more like this" queries and did a great job if you wrote a paragraph describing your invention and want to find related inventions, both in patent and non-patent literature. If it hasn't been made obsolete by Sentence BERT, however, it soon will be.
- holler 3y agoNot sure if they've upgraded but you used to not be able to permalink to a search result.
- PaulHoule 3y ago… oops, unfortunately it doesn’t work. If I didn’t already have side projects coming out of my ears I’d go home and code a better trademark search up.
- holler 3y agoHaha totally, they could use the help! What's the system of "three sided cards"?
- PaulHoule 3y agoMost of the images I post here https://mastodon.social/@UP8/media https://mastodon.social/@UP8/media have to do with "three-sided cards"; these have many uses not least I can throw down several of them and take a picture to show on social media.
- dewey 3y agoCouldn't it just be under another name just like all the Apple names they trademark before launches?
- NotYourLawyer 3y agoThat’s not really how trademarks work.
- electricmonk 3y agoIANYL. Threads owns one for THREADS: https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87522273&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87522273&caseType=SERIAL_... It covers (in Class 42): "Platform as a service (PAAS) featuring computer software platforms for use in project management and collaboration for the technology and media industries that allows organizations and users to create, upload, share, discuss, store, and search content meant for users of the platform; none of the foregoing specifically targeting decision support among healthcare professionals and facilities"
- orwin 3y agoThis is the first thread about 'threads' I read today, and probably the only one pointing to a tool I find interesting.
- nekoashide 3y agoMeta had a product previously called Threads, there's lots of companies called Apple. They are billed as a slack replacement and not a twitter replacement. I'm not seeing the issue.
- gtirloni 3y agoBoth are in the communications area. Does the trademark office differentiates between slack-replacement and twitter-replacement?
- ZiiS 3y agoIf your laywers have FB amounts of money they do.
- pan69 3y ago> Does the trademark office differentiates between slack-replacement and twitter-replacement Because they both operate in the replacement space?
- dizhn 3y ago"communications" is in the comment.
- PaulHoule 3y agoThere are just 45 trademark classes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_(Nice)_Classification_of_Goods_and_Services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_(Nice)_Classific... I think these are both in class 38 “Telecommunications”
- electricmonk 3y agoIANYL, but the registration by Threads for THREADS is in Class 42: "Platform as a service (PAAS) featuring computer software platforms for use in project management and collaboration for the technology and media industries that allows organizations and users to create, upload, share, discuss, store, and search content meant for users of the platform; none of the foregoing specifically targeting decision support among healthcare professionals and facilities"
- gtirloni 3y ago> Please enter a work email address
- burlesona 3y agoTangential but I used Threads at a previous company and really liked it. I don't know how anyone could get a company that's already built around Slack to switch, but if you are starting fresh I think Threads offered a much nicer experience for async comms and especially for long discussions of consequence. Highly recommend giving it a shot!
- 8n4vidtmkvmk 3y ago$10/user/mo sounds expensive. And the free option looks so tiny it's a non starter. I think both Slack and Threads should be a little more generous with their free packages. Maybe like 5 users and unlimited history or self hosted but no support.
- bragr 3y agoPerhaps for the individual, but for enterprise contracts, that's pretty cheap. Slack charges $12.50 per user-month so this handily undercuts it.
- x0x0 3y agoMind sharing what was better? tia
- burlesona 3y agoIt was better at two things: 1. not interrupting me with pings all day but helping me to catch up on messages in batches 2. Much better format for long conversations, proposals, and discussions
- mminer237 3y agoAs an lawyer with a bit of an intellectual property background, this seems like such an obvious trademark infringement suit that I'm virtually positive Meta paid Threads a decent sum to use the name while they sign an NDA.
- dividedbyzero 3y agoIf they haven't, might Meta just be banking on being able to drag out any legal action forever or make it impossibly costly to pursue this?
- PaulHoule 3y agoI’ve seen Microsoft and similar companies get their ass whupped for this. It’s really an open and shut case, somebody in another thread just pointed out that “threads.com” really has a registered trademark, they might not even need that given they have a history of using the name. FB can pay or change the name if they want to get out of the doghouse.
- calt 3y agoI don't understand this post. What point is the headline making?
- metalliqaz 3y agoIf I have gathered correctly, it's that Meta (Facebook's parent co) has launched a new product called "Threads", but there is already a company called "Threads" which OP linked with his or her post. So the question is, how can Facebook launch without owning the trademark, which it is surely violating.
- apgwoz 3y agoMeta launched a twitter clone called Threads. An existing chat application (in the Slack vein) is called Threads. Meta’s Threads might infringe on the other Threads’ trademark in the US.
- sailfast 3y agoThey have successfully submarined us into looking at the product page on Threads.com as a Slack alternative, while opining on whether this might be a trademark dispute around Meta's new thing with the same name.
- majani 3y agoFacebook was willing to pay $9million for fb.com back in 2010. If this threads experiment goes well, I'm sure Zuck will make them an offer they can't refuse.
- motoboi 3y agoI suppose there is a lot of money waiting for you if you hide the free plan from your pricing page this month. Not sure about the ethics of that, though.
- pessimizer 3y agoYou shouldn't be able to get a trademark on "Threads," any more than you should be able to get a trademark on "Doors" if you owned a company that sold doors called Doors. "Doors.com," fine; "Doors.net," fine, "The Great ...doors," fine. Facebook will protect Threads with trademarked logos and color schemes, not by pretending that they own the concept of threads. Also, if you want to name your car company "Threads" or even your clothing company "Threads," fine. If you want to name your thread company Threads, you can't have a trademarked word.
- Takennickname 3y agoAppropriate username.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- electricmonk 3y agoIANYL. Threads does in fact have a trademark registration for THREADS: https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87522273&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87522273&caseType=SERIAL_...
- chrismcb 3y agoWhy not? You won't be able to trademark "doors" if you sell doors. But if you make it, day the name of your band, you can. It doesn't stop people from using the word doors in relation to well doors, or a door company. But it does stop someone else for using it for another band name. Basically you can't trademark a common word in a common usage, but you can trademark it for an uncommon usage. Now whether you should or not is a different story. Common words don't help SEO much.
- underwater 3y agoIf not Doors, then what about Windows?
- siva7 3y agoJackpot. Sometimes the startup name makes all the difference
- kristianp 3y agoI couldn't find a trademark with only the word "threads" [1]. There's "U Threads" [2] for example, but it has a disclaimer: "NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "THREADS" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN". [1] https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/search https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/search [2] https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4802:zam0q0.3.1 https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4802:za...
- electricmonk 3y agoIANYL. Found it: https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87522273&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87522273&caseType=SERIAL_...
- PaulHoule 3y agoI found roughly 30 registrations for “Threads” (mostly expired) and it didn’t seem that any of them are Facebook or threads.com; threads.com seems to have a very similar service to Facebook Threads, somebody who looked at the screenshots might confuse one for the other. The fact of Threads.com already using the name “Threads” in the market might give them a case against Facebook, it would possibly pay handsomely for them to talk to an IP lawyer to see if they have any rights in this case. Many big companies have been careless about naming things, remember how Microsoft initially called “OneDrive” “SkyDrive”? They just didn’t do their due diligence and it wasn’t the first time for the,.
- electricmonk 3y agoIANYL. Found it: https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87522273&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=87522273&caseType=SERIAL_...
- hayksaakian 3y agotrademarks have specific scopes you can see that in the "goods and services" section right
- electricmonk 3y agoIANYL, but yeah. The services this registration covers (in Class 42) are: "Platform as a service (PAAS) featuring computer software platforms for use in project management and collaboration for the technology and media industries that allows organizations and users to create, upload, share, discuss, store, and search content meant for users of the platform; none of the foregoing specifically targeting decision support among healthcare professionals and facilities"
- somethingAlex 3y agoAm I the only one who gets an uncanny feeling visiting this site? If someone told me this was software satire I would believe them. This cyberpunk-ish theme with juvenile sprite sprinkled over it (e.g. the little AI guy floating under the video and the figures under "What people are saying"). At the beginning of the video I get these '90s infomercial; "The world moves fast / information super highway" vibes. The background music seems ironic considering the visual content. I guess it is just trying to be retro but the "I want to be post iOS 5 Apple" top bar throws me off. Sorry this is not constructive but I just must know if I'm the only one feeling this. In any case, I don't mind Slack but I'd give this a try if they allowed more than 500 messages in the free tier. At least Slack gives you the 90 day history.
- marbleless 3y agoThis looks more like a minecraft discord channel than an actual product.
- ChrisArchitect 3y agoTell HN:
- solarkraft 3y agoThreads.com looks pretty great! It even has audio for channels, nice!
- THREADOOOR_NFT 3y agoFunny enough that you are having this conversation. I was about to launch a NFT project called threads.nft which basically just had a bunch of pixel thread cartoons but no trademarked meta content. I was close to launch and then I stopped in my tracks realizing that Meta would probably kick in my door just for the overlap in name. Nevermind how nonsensical this nft stuff seems to you, it isn't really relevant. I thought my anecdote might add to the discussion. What do you think? Would I have lawyers at my door if I launched this (what can be best explained as) "art" project?