Futuremark tries to trademark 'PWNAGE'

Author: Tim Smalley
Published: 3rd March 2008
Comments (25) Stumble
If Futuremark's PWNAGE trademark request is approved, what will happen to words like LOL, ROFL, etc?

If Futuremark's PWNAGE trademark request is approved, what will happen to words like LOL, ROFL, etc?

In what might be one of the strangest trademark applications we've seen in a long while, Futuremark Corporation recently filed papers with the US trademark office for the word 'PWNAGE'.

If it is approved, Futuremark's request will cover an extremely wide slice of the digital entertainment market, including (but not limited to) the following:

"Computer game software for communication devices; computer game software and computer game programs enabling users to play games with mobile phones and personal digital assistants; computer software and programs enabling users to communication devices to simultaneously access databases and global computer networks; software enabling transfer of data between mobile communication apparatus..."

What's interesting is that one of the requests is for "Computer software development," so one has to assume this is something related to the recent Futuremark Game Studios announcement.

It'll be disappointing if this makes it through, because it's such a commonly used word in the geek world and if it does get accepted, I wonder how long it'll be before 1337, ROFL, LOL and such are trademarked.

That said, I would be surprised if it is approved, especially given that Pure Pwnage—a series of Internet-distributed "mockumentary" videos—has been around since 2004.

What are your thoughts on Futuremark's move? Share them with us in the forums.

Thanks to Trademork for the heads up
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Quote UncertainGod 3rd March 2008, 14:00
/me waits for teh pwneror to sue.
Quote The Infamous Mr D 3rd March 2008, 14:01
Oh good heavens.
Quote Arkanrais 3rd March 2008, 14:13
epic fail in the making
Quote Firehed 3rd March 2008, 14:18
Does Futuremark even use it in any of their products (and does their line of product expand beyond benchmarking software)?

Dumber than Fark trying to trademark NSFW.
Quote TreeDude 3rd March 2008, 14:22
Well that came out of nowhere. Considering their benchmarking tools don't mean jack anymore, maybe they go bored?
Quote Flibblebot 3rd March 2008, 14:31
No chance of getting it through. Trademarks require that there is no significant prior art relating to the application. Since there is obviously masses of prior art (just look through any game forum, or even lolcats), this is doomed to failure before it even starts.

Strangely, futuremark should already know this, so I think this is probably just a publicity stunt to draw attention to the fact that they're writing a game. </cynic>
Quote kosch 3rd March 2008, 14:55
lol I think Futuremark is trying to drum up some free PR for its up coming game to remind everyone that they are still doing stuff.
Quote johnmustrule 3rd March 2008, 15:59
What's gonna happen, everyone's gonna boycott futuremark, taht's what! this reminds me of when apple wanted to tradmark the "I-anyhing stuff" I doub't such a commonly used word will be tradmarked or stay that way, considering WOOT just officialy made it into the english language, no kidding.
Quote Dreaming 3rd March 2008, 16:02
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flibblebot
No chance of getting it through. Trademarks require that there is no significant prior art relating to the application. Since there is obviously masses of prior art (just look through any game forum, or even lolcats), this is doomed to failure before it even starts.

Strangely, futuremark should already know this, so I think this is probably just a publicity stunt to draw attention to the fact that they're writing a game. </cynic>

Completely agree on both points.
Quote mikeuk2004 3rd March 2008, 16:11
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flibblebot
No chance of getting it through. Trademarks require that there is no significant prior art relating to the application. Since there is obviously masses of prior art (just look through any game forum, or even lolcats), this is doomed to failure before it even starts.

Strangely, futuremark should already know this, so I think this is probably just a publicity stunt to draw attention to the fact that they're writing a game. </cynic>

Thats what I thought then reading Tim's article. No chance of a common word getting a trademark.
Quote Mankz. 3rd March 2008, 17:11
I hope the get pwned.

noobs.
Quote Mr T 3rd March 2008, 18:29
Personally i hate the word and wish it would go away :p
Quote pendragon 3rd March 2008, 18:40
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr T
Personally i hate the word and wish it would go away :p

what he said ^^^

in any event, this smacks of a P.R. stunt to me
Quote proxess 3rd March 2008, 20:21
*runs the latest 3d mark on pc*
HAHAHA j00 PC HAS BEEN PWND BY OUR 1337 PROGRAMZ0RZ!!!!111one11eleven1
*dies*
Quote specofdust 3rd March 2008, 20:24
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkanrais
epic fail in the making

Agreed. This can only go badly for them.
Quote Kipman725 3rd March 2008, 21:24
1337 can never be trademarked as it's a number. Thats why intell switched from 486 to pentium because they couldn't trademark a number so others produced 468's aswell. Some of them far faster than intells. I have a IBM "586" which could run at 140MHz and basicly raped all but the fastest pentium. Runing with high bus speeds made my system a tad unstable though.
Quote metarinka 3rd March 2008, 22:30
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kipman725
1337 can never be trademarked as it's a number. Thats why intell switched from 486 to pentium because they couldn't trademark a number so others produced 468's aswell. Some of them far faster than intells. I have a IBM "586" which could run at 140MHz and basicly raped all but the fastest pentium. Runing with high bus speeds made my system a tad unstable though.

I thought porsche successfully trademarked 911, or more importantly won a court case against another car company for the 911 moniker. Of course that was like 70 years ago?

at any rate this is pretty pointless, especially seeing how pure pwnage has been around for awhile, the real debate is whether it's pronounced Pone, or own
Quote CardJoe 3rd March 2008, 23:08
When I first start at bit-tech I heard it pronouned poon-age. That surprised me a lot. Up north a pooner is someone who sniffs bicycle seats for sexual pleasure. It took a bit of getting used to hearing that.
Quote UncertainGod 3rd March 2008, 23:28
Quote:
Originally Posted by CardJoe
When I first start at bit-tech I heard it pronouned poon-age. That surprised me a lot. Up north a pooner is someone who sniffs bicycle seats for sexual pleasure. It took a bit of getting used to hearing that.

That took me as well.

Been down this end of the country for a year, love the people, hate the soft dialect.
Quote Amon 4th March 2008, 01:00
Where did you guys get the article picture from?
Quote HourBeforeDawn 4th March 2008, 03:50
I dont think I have ever seen them use the word before lol if this gets copyrighted then people might as well start copyrighting the english language, really this is ridiculous.
Quote Brett89 4th March 2008, 05:29
no.
Quote rjkoneill 4th March 2008, 13:20
well i am in the process of copyrighting 'FTW','w00t' and 'n00b'
Quote johnmustrule 5th March 2008, 02:29
Quote:
Originally Posted by HourBeforeDawn
I dont think I have ever seen them use the word before lol if this gets copyrighted then people might as well start copyrighting the english language, really this is ridiculous.

I got dibs on "a" and "is"!
Quote outlawaol 5th March 2008, 06:30
My generation thinks everything is for sale... including made up words. Its so silly its hard to even comprehend.
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