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Hasbro's Trademark for the Smell of Play-Doh (2018)
- brookst 2y agoI haven't been around Play-Doh in 40 years and just reading that I can smell it perfectly.
- blablabla123 2y agoYeah the smell is very distinctive. I think I had it 30 years ago in my hands and at times I remember
- sys32768 2y agoAlas, if only it tasted as good as it smells.
- h2odragon 2y ago2018, that makes sense. they got a chemist to make an extract / perfume of it around then i guess. I believe I've run into it used as a flavoring in the blue ice cream.
- B3QL 2y agoIf someone is curious about the description of the Play-Doh scent. > A unique scent formed through the combination of a sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough.
- RIMR 2y agoUh, OP already linked to a very concise trademark document. This info is prominently above-the-fold. If anyone is actually curious, I would hope they actually clicked the link and didn't come to the comments section first...
- portaouflop 2y agoReading only the comments without looking at the linked content — what monster would do such a thing?
- fortyseven 2y agoOr you could just mind your business and move on.
- sandworm101 2y agoI would argue that for something to be trademarked it must somehow be recorded. A vague description is not enough. For a color such as Ferrari Red, we have specific values. For a sound such the windows noises, we have exact recording. If I were a judge, I would need more than "it smells like vanilla" before enforcing a trademark against someone with an allegedly similarly-smelling product. At least run the scent through a mass spectrometer or something. Are we going to have vineyards suing each other because X wine smells too similar to Y?
- meowster 2y agoCan't smells be recorded by chemical composition? 20+ years ago, CSI (U.S. TV Show) had an episode where they used a device to identify fragrances; seemed plausible to me.
- RIMR 2y agoCSI is notorious for inventing lots of forensic tools that never have and never will exist. In fact, their portrayal of forensic science has warped public perception enough that it has led to the corruption of actual forensic science, because people find it extremely easy to believe that all of these magical investigative tools actually exist. A show about actual investigative science would not be exciting to watch though, so they throw shit in like "freeze and enhance" because people love fantasy science. They just don't know enough to know the difference between what's real and what's not. In the real world, we do have something called an "Electronic Nose", which is essentially what you are describing here. But, if you're actually trying to document the composition of a fragrance, you wouldn't work backwards by analyzing the smell, you would just document the formula you used to create the fragrance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_nose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_nose
- meowster 2y agoAh yes, the "CSI Effect", I forgot about that. Thank you.
- actionfromafar 2y ago
- readyplayernull 2y agoApple computers' boxes in the 80s had a nice apple smell. Did they use a commercial product or was it developed by them? The scent lasted for at least 10 years as I reopened the boxes in the 90s to store my Apple ][c and replace it with the appliance-smelling IBM PC.
- kube-system 2y agoAirpods with rubber ear tips smell like blueberries when new. It has been debated on whether or not this is intentional or just offgassing. (my guess is offgassing because if it were intentional Apple would be way more consistent)
- foxyv 2y agoMy favorite 303 tire balm smells like this. I'm betting it's probably a similar silicone based chemical that's used in the ear tips.
- musicale 2y agoAh, new {Apple Device} smell...
- RIMR 2y agoThis isn't a valid trademark. If it's ever challenged, it's doomed. The fragrance industry has already been down this road: you cannot copyright/trademark/patent a smell, you can only protect the composition of your formula. USPTO has an entire classification system that deals with perfume patents, so I have no idea how this trademark got approved. If someone duplicates your fragrance without duplicating your formula, they are free to do so, even for profit (See: The "Replica" brand of fragrances). If they want to protect this smell as a form of IP, they need to patent their formula, not trademark a description of the scent. Even then, so long as competitors don't copy the formula, they are free to copy the smell.
- vorticalbox 2y agoI was under the impression that trademarks were just granted and they are verified once they are challenged.
- RIMR 2y agoThat might be the case. I'm not a lawyer, but I do try to know as much as I can about IP law. Regardless, I would expect that Hasbro doesn't actually have the ability to protect this fragrance short of a SLAPP suite.
- iankp 2y agoAre you talking about the Replica line by Maison Margiela, because those are obviously not trying to be bootlegs, they replicate smells from nature. However you're right, that fragrances are one of the most ripped off original works in existence, with machines to even analyze the composition in creating duplicates. Those master perfumers that make unique works of art through their studies and talents have it worse than Nike shoes.
- Veuxdo 2y agoI thought fragrances in perfumes couldn't be trademarked because they were functional. But you could trademark fragrances as a nonfunctional component of a product (e.g. Play-doh).
- woliveirajr 2y agoOnce I bought a Motorola smartphone. When I received it, there was a strong smell, so I asked it to be returned because someone must have droped some perfum during the delivery. The new one come with the same strong smell. Found out that the Motorola was trying to create some "scent signature" to their products. Returned it again and never look back.
- mmmlinux 2y agoStorm brand bowling balls are slightly scented. Mine used to smell like orange mint when it was new.
- lagniappe 2y agoIronlak spraypaint is like this too. The first day I hated it but it really grew on me, and despite having not held a can of Ironlak in a decade, I can still smell it.
- autoexec 2y agoMadonna's Like a Prayer album was covered in patchouli oil, it was supposed to call to mind the church. I'm not opposed to the idea of scented products/branding but it always seems too strong.
- AStonesThrow 2y agoWhat model and year? I picked up a Moto g play (2021) at Target and wasn't aware of this issue, because it would've been a deal breaker for me as well. I find all artificial fragrances revolting and off-putting.
- woliveirajr 2y agoMoto g60 128 GB - 6 GB, March 2022.
- ssl-3 2y agoTo me, it's just overwhelmingly distracting to be surrounded by a flurry of scents. Could be artificial, could be natural. The laundry soap aisle at the grocery store is an awful time for me, and so is visiting a florist or a funeral for a popular person. For years, I'd get angry every time I went grocery shopping with my family. I'd enter the store in a good mood, and by the time I left I was simply very pissed off. I never could figure out why, until: I realized that things were fine until I spent any time in an aisle that was full of perfumed products. So I stopped doing that. Lots of things got a lot easier for me (and everyone around me) after that point.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ChrisArchitect 2y agoHasbro Trademarks a Favorite Smell from Childhood: The PLAY-DOH Scent, May 18, 2018 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180518005326/en https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180518005326/en
- gambiting 2y agoFor me nothing beats the smell of Pokemon cards freshly out of a booster pack. I can recall that smell at a whim even though I haven't opened any packs in years.
- jpiburn 2y agothis exactly. I started buying packs again recently for fun and immediately was transported back 20 years