3 ms·
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
by 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.