7 ms·

Zynga Tells CupidWithFriends To Stop Using ‘With Friends’

22 points by siong1987 13y ago

t0 13y ago
Original thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5721310 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5721310
deadfall 13y ago
This is silly. "Hey, Zynga, stop using 'Wars'. Thanks, Ninendo"
- jmtame 13y ago
  Their claim is that it'll cause confusion, but my thoughts are: if you're going to trademark a common English phrase, you should be prepared to deal with some amount of confusion. People have been doing stuff with friends before Zynga came along.
pvnick 13y ago
Two words I think pretty much summarize my general sentiment towards Zynga. "Fuck you"
- gummydude 13y ago
  No, "Fuck USPTO"
robryan 13y ago
Am I the only one that thinks this is a legitimate? I could see myself thinking anything suffixed with "with friends" that is an app as part of the Zynga range. Granted that fact that it isn't a game could be enough to remove some of the confusion.
- ameister14 13y ago
  I think since dating sites fall into the entertainment category that it's surprisingly legitimate.
- mattsfrey 13y ago
  Yeah I'm conflicted on this one. I'm usually very much against such things but in this case it's just more likely than not that they made the name in light of the popularity of the "X With Friends" apps. On the other hand though it's such a general trademark using a common phrase. Very tough to decide.
  - rhizome 13y ago
    This reads to me like a "just add Internet!" rationale. Zynga is not in the dating game, and it will be their responsiblity to show that users look to Zynga for more than (disposable) games.
- jmtame 13y ago
  I think it'd be one thing if we were a gaming company and used a thought bubble with the same look and design that Zynga uses for their With Friends family of marks, but there's no possibility of confusion there and on top of that, we don't operate in the same space. We're a dating startup. CupidForFriends.com is taken otherwise we would have just switched and 301 redirected.
  - pbiggar 13y ago
    Got to say I disagree here. You might be in a different space but you're close enough for confusion. "With Friends" is a valuable trademark for them, they spent a lot on building that trademark, and you are piggybacking on it intentionally (I could be wrong about the intentionally part, but I'd be surprised). I really think you should change the name. If you go on a full out fight with Zynga, you won't find much sympathy I think. That said, some very nice PR here, and you can probably look forward to some more PR once you acquiesce :)
    - jmtame 13y ago
      To be honest this was not intentional and I was kind of surprised by the initial email--as the search for new product names usually goes, we started by looking at what domain was available.
      - kordless 13y ago
        I suggest contacting a trademark attorney and see if you can get a short pro bono consultation. I'd ask about what they thought about your classification. I'm not an attorney, but via http://www.iusmentis.com/trademarks/crashcourse/rights/ http://www.iusmentis.com/trademarks/crashcourse/rights/ it says 'The most common type of trademark infringement probably occurs when somebody else sells a product or service under a name that in some way resembles a registered trademark, and the products in question are the same or similar to the registered products.' Zynga's classes are IC 041. US 100 101 107. and IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. I don't see dating services in there: http://tess2.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-brs?sect2=THESOFF&sect3=PLURON&pg1=ALL&s1=dating&l=MAX&sect1=IDMLICON&sect4=HITOFF&op1=AND&d=TIDM&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2Ftidm.html&r=0&f=S http://tess2.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-brs?sect2=THESOFF&sec... I'm no attorney, but I'd go talk to one about your classification. And if you take Paul's advice, make sure you make part of the deal that Zynga will do forwarding of the old domain for you for 2 years so you can transition your 75K users over. Impact to them and your business is non-trivial.
- LancerSykera 13y ago
  First time I saw Cupid With Friends mentioned here on HN, I immediately thought of Zynga. I'm not saying I actually thought they had anything to do with Zynga whatsoever, but the naming connection was immediate.
  - darkarmani 13y ago
    I thought of Friendster. I think they should sue.
- bradleyjg 13y ago
  They built a business copying scrabble. Whatever the legal merits of protecting a name verses protecting a game, they get exactly zero sympathy from me for their intellectual property claims.
deleted 13y ago
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rdl 13y ago
I do associate "crap with friends" with Zynga, so I'd rebrand, not because of the letter, but because they have poisoned the general "with friends" phrase.
deleted 13y ago
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22 points by siong1987 13y ago

t0 13y ago

Original thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5721310 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5721310

deadfall 13y ago

This is silly. "Hey, Zynga, stop using 'Wars'. Thanks, Ninendo"

jmtame 13y ago
Their claim is that it'll cause confusion, but my thoughts are: if you're going to trademark a common English phrase, you should be prepared to deal with some amount of confusion. People have been doing stuff with friends before Zynga came along.

pvnick 13y ago

Two words I think pretty much summarize my general sentiment towards Zynga. "Fuck you"

gummydude 13y ago
No, "Fuck USPTO"

robryan 13y ago

Am I the only one that thinks this is a legitimate? I could see myself thinking anything suffixed with "with friends" that is an app as part of the Zynga range. Granted that fact that it isn't a game could be enough to remove some of the confusion.

ameister14 13y ago
I think since dating sites fall into the entertainment category that it's surprisingly legitimate.
mattsfrey 13y ago
Yeah I'm conflicted on this one. I'm usually very much against such things but in this case it's just more likely than not that they made the name in light of the popularity of the "X With Friends" apps. On the other hand though it's such a general trademark using a common phrase. Very tough to decide.
- rhizome 13y ago
  This reads to me like a "just add Internet!" rationale. Zynga is not in the dating game, and it will be their responsiblity to show that users look to Zynga for more than (disposable) games.
jmtame 13y ago
I think it'd be one thing if we were a gaming company and used a thought bubble with the same look and design that Zynga uses for their With Friends family of marks, but there's no possibility of confusion there and on top of that, we don't operate in the same space. We're a dating startup. CupidForFriends.com is taken otherwise we would have just switched and 301 redirected.
- pbiggar 13y ago
  Got to say I disagree here. You might be in a different space but you're close enough for confusion. "With Friends" is a valuable trademark for them, they spent a lot on building that trademark, and you are piggybacking on it intentionally (I could be wrong about the intentionally part, but I'd be surprised). I really think you should change the name. If you go on a full out fight with Zynga, you won't find much sympathy I think. That said, some very nice PR here, and you can probably look forward to some more PR once you acquiesce :)
  - jmtame 13y ago
    To be honest this was not intentional and I was kind of surprised by the initial email--as the search for new product names usually goes, we started by looking at what domain was available.
    - kordless 13y ago
      I suggest contacting a trademark attorney and see if you can get a short pro bono consultation. I'd ask about what they thought about your classification. I'm not an attorney, but via http://www.iusmentis.com/trademarks/crashcourse/rights/ http://www.iusmentis.com/trademarks/crashcourse/rights/ it says 'The most common type of trademark infringement probably occurs when somebody else sells a product or service under a name that in some way resembles a registered trademark, and the products in question are the same or similar to the registered products.' Zynga's classes are IC 041. US 100 101 107. and IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. I don't see dating services in there: http://tess2.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-brs?sect2=THESOFF&sect3=PLURON&pg1=ALL&s1=dating&l=MAX&sect1=IDMLICON&sect4=HITOFF&op1=AND&d=TIDM&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2Ftidm.html&r=0&f=S http://tess2.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-brs?sect2=THESOFF&sec... I'm no attorney, but I'd go talk to one about your classification. And if you take Paul's advice, make sure you make part of the deal that Zynga will do forwarding of the old domain for you for 2 years so you can transition your 75K users over. Impact to them and your business is non-trivial.
LancerSykera 13y ago
First time I saw Cupid With Friends mentioned here on HN, I immediately thought of Zynga. I'm not saying I actually thought they had anything to do with Zynga whatsoever, but the naming connection was immediate.
- darkarmani 13y ago
  I thought of Friendster. I think they should sue.
bradleyjg 13y ago
They built a business copying scrabble. Whatever the legal merits of protecting a name verses protecting a game, they get exactly zero sympathy from me for their intellectual property claims.

deleted 13y ago

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rdl 13y ago

I do associate "crap with friends" with Zynga, so I'd rebrand, not because of the letter, but because they have poisoned the general "with friends" phrase.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]