Netflix Trademarks "Friends"

Flickr user Alt Text noticed the "tm" mark next to the word "friends" on the Netflix Web site.

Using the "tm" designation is probably a defensive move to prevent another DVD-by-mail company from using the term "friends." From the US Patent & Trademark Office Web site:

Any time you claim rights in a mark, you may use the "TM" (trademark) or "SM" (service mark) designation to alert the public to your claim, regardless of whether you have filed an application with the USPTO. However, you may use the federal registration symbol "®" only after the USPTO actually registers a mark, and not while an application is pending. Also, you may use the registration symbol with the mark only on or in connection with the goods and/or services listed in the federal trademark registration.

Didn't Microsoft run into trouble when they tried to register the generic term "Windows?"

Comments

[Becky]

They were sued by Apple Computer, but it wasn't over the trademark, but over the use of windows. Apple claimed they invented the graphical interface. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_v._Microsoft

[mikek]

Several years ago Microsoft was at risk of losing the trademark on Windows because it's a generic term. I remember reading about it and found this story that talks about it:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20040525-3810.html

"What this means is that if a jury decides "windows" was a generic term before Windows 1.0 was released in November 1985, it would invalidate all of Microsoft's Windows and Windows-related trademarks and they would not receive any legal protections afforded by trademark statues. "

I didn't hear if the court upheld the trademark, but Microsoft is still claiming the Windows trademark on their site, so I think they won.

http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/ip/trademarks/winguide.asp

[Rusty Ramrod]

Apple did invent it. Uncle Bill stole it. ;-)

These TM issues are starting to get ridiculous. Common words and phrases should not be trademarkable. Heck the other day I touched the stove and screamed "ouch, that's hot!" a lawyer stepped around the corner and demanded I pay Paris Hilton $2

he he

[NetflixShill]

That's the problem with corporations these days. They think they can patent / trademark / copyright ANY thing - including human / animal / plant DNA, common words and phrases, old works that should be public domain, etc. Someone should challenge these BS and claim to have "reverse-engineered" the word "Friends" or "Windows" or "Blockbuster" by reading a dictionary. Nobody should have claimed those in the first place. Most people refer to applications as "program windows" or "windows." Most refer to friends as friends. I've had it with big companies trying to hijack our culture for their profit and aggrandizement. If they want to claim a word, they should make it up themselves and have no precedent for its use whatsoever.

[Fred]

Trademarking "Windows" as it refers to software is not silly. We can debate who invented it the graphical user interface (more likely Xerox PARC than either Microsoft or Apple), but Microsoft does have a legal right to protect there. You won't get in trouble for using the word "windows," any more than manufacturers of "window cleaner" need to call their product something else. However, the trademark does restrict other *software companies* from using the term. That the software in question has become in many ways synonymous with Microsoft gives them all the more reason to protect the trademark. It *can* get ridiculous, but I'm not convinced it was in this case.

"Friends," on the other hand, is a bit more dubious, I think. Netflix likely wasn't the first to use the term -- even in contexts similar to this. (Will livejournal, for instance, decide to sue?)

[Seth]

Please remember, there is a difference between "copyright" and "trademark".

I am guessing, uninformed though I am, that the trademark is for the word "friends" with that attached symbol. As in... they trademarked the logo which included the word friends in it. Most places on the site where they use the word friends, they do not have the TM on it.

As for the Microsoft case, very similar, they trademarked the Window's Flying Window symbol with the word "windows" next to it.

So... long story short, much ado about nothing.

[Seth]

Please remember, there is a difference between "copyright" and "trademark".

I am guessing, uninformed though I am, that the trademark is for the word "friends" with that attached symbol. As in... they trademarked the logo which included the word friends in it. Most places on the site where they use the word friends, they do not have the TM on it.

As for the Microsoft case, very similar, they trademarked the Window's Flying Window symbol with the word "windows" next to it.

So... long story short, much ado about nothing.

[Seth]

According to the US Copyright Office FAQ, copyright "protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed."

While copyright covers expressions of ideas, trademark covers logos and brand names. The US Patent and Trademark Office says that "A trademark includes any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination, used, or intended to be used, in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one manufacturer or seller from goods manufactured or sold by others, and to indicate the source of the goods. In short, a trademark is a brand name."

[E. Craig Crawford]

You know that sooner or later someone is going to suggest that Netflix trademark the word "Throttle."

But, I won't suggest it. I try not to use the word. ;-)

[subliminalis]

Actually, I think they trademarked the entire logo, including the purple man, and the font sytle. Not just the word "Friends".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark

Josh
http://antishave2006.blogspot.com

[How To Trademark A Name]

Conflicts on trademarks, copyright or other kind of intellectual rights will seek to appear, especially when there's a lot of money involved.