Home Gaming Sony’s trying to Trademark “Let’s Plays”

Sony’s trying to Trademark “Let’s Plays”

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“Let’s Plays” have become a staple of the gaming world. They’ve now one of the best ways to see a game, with myriad YouTubers publishing videos of their gaming exploits daily, supplanting traditional games media in very many ways.

Though I’m a grumpy, old and curmudgeonly sort who doesn’t quite get watching other people play games, I do understand the appeal. For many, the entertainment comes from watching grown men squeal like little girls, for others, it’s about getting a good look at a game and its systems before ultimately making a decision on whether or not to buy a game.

Either way you slice it, Let’s Plays have become ubiquitous within the realm of video games. Which al makes it rather odd (and a bit silly) that Sony’s apparently trying to trademark the term.

Late last year, Sony Computer Entertainment America tried to trademark the term Let’s Play, as “Electronic transmission and streaming of video games via global and local computer networks; streaming of audio, visual, and audiovisual material via global and local computer networks.”

Of course, the general presumption is that Sony’s trying to bag the term for use in marketing. Perhaps it’s set aside as the name for their rebranded streaming services or, as a way to stop competitors (read: Microsoft) from using the term in its own streaming services. Reason dictates Sony would allow general users to use the term freely.

If, of course, they ever get the Trademark that is, which is unlikely. It’s such a broad, ubiquitous term, that trying to trademark it just comes across as arrogance. According to the listing the USPTO sent Sony a non-final action on Dec. 29 about the filing – which is the sort of thing that happens when there’s a problem. Hopefully the problem is that somebody at the patent office realised how silly the whole thing is.

Last Updated: January 11, 2016

No Comments

  1. justlikemo

    January 11, 2016 at 07:55

    and sony carries on its path of greed, arrogant plicks

    Reply

  2. Alien Emperor Trevor

    January 11, 2016 at 08:02

    That’s almost as silly as trying to copyright a rectangle with rounded corners. Oh… wait…

    Reply

    • rollingmol

      January 11, 2016 at 18:59

      Or zombie… Oops

      Reply

  3. Ottokie

    January 11, 2016 at 08:08

  4. Hammersteyn

    January 11, 2016 at 08:11

    • Ir0nseraph

      January 11, 2016 at 09:04

      XD

      Stupid move by sony, they should stick to what got the PS4 to where it is now, give us good games.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        January 11, 2016 at 09:05

        If they plan on sticking with indies for PS+ then I want Undertale and soon!

        Reply

  5. Greylingad[CNFRMD]

    January 11, 2016 at 09:25

    If only they’d patent, I can’t believe I’m typing this but, hashtag YOLO

    Reply

  6. AfricanTime

    January 11, 2016 at 09:31

    i am going to the patent office with a dictionary , so i can patent the english language…”that’s Hot”

    Reply

  7. DavidRager

    January 11, 2016 at 12:59

    Sony unveiled a wide array of products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. From high-fidelity turntables to LED speaker bulbs to headphones. http://goo.gl/F3Y2Ap

    Reply

  8. Kromas untamed

    January 11, 2016 at 13:44

    This is the same company who paid Ubisoft to “downgrade” Watch_Dogs pc version so the PS version looks better.

    So what did you expect?

    Reply

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