4 ms·

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Seriously.

• jameskilton 13y ago
  It does seem stupid but they have to. It's like the Bethesda / Mojang trademark battle over "Scrolls". Trademark law, at least in this country, is strict. If you don't go after potential trademark infringements diligently and in a reasonable time period, then you will quickly lose the legal right to do so.
  • nrivadeneira 13y ago
    It's comical not just because they're claiming a silly trademark infringement, but because the whole company was built off of copying existing games.
  • shawn-furyan 13y ago
    It doesn't really legitimize this suit to compare it with another famously absurd trademark infringement battle. "Scrolls" are a fantasy trope (meaning it's so commonly used that it's considered unimaginative)! You can't have that! I think that "Elder Scrolls" is distinctive and trademark-able. "Scrolls" is not. Setting aside the issue of whether the phrase "With Friends" is distinctive, and therefore trademarkable, BWF and WWF do not serve remotely similar purposes, so they're not going to lose their right to defend the trademark in their own market. Finally, their big trademark blunder was using an indefensible trademark. The damage there has already been done. It doesn't make sense to then hurt your brand's reputation by linking it in the minds of your customers with a hookup app. The fact that this story is on the front page of Hacker News means that the Streisand effect is hurting the brand already (not that Zynga has a sterling reputation here). Sometimes it's a tactical error to do what the legal department recommends, and this is one of those cases.
  • darkarmani 13y ago
    Why couldn't they sublicense that name for a nominal amount to protect their TM? They want to sue.