
Google, you win - yovia
http://yovia.com/2014/08/29/google-you-win/
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natch
Google's lawyers are right.

You seem to be claiming that you only have a problem with this common phrase
being used in a certain context, but unfortunately for your trademark, it is
exactly that context in which the usage is especially common.

Far from not acknowledging that point, Cooley, the Google legal firm, deals
with it head on. As they say in their letter: "The phrase is particularly
common in the online marketing and advertising context..." They then go on to
provide references to some of the countless examples.

The lesson here is be careful what you ask your lawyers to do for you. Some
lawyers will do anything legal you want, even if it's a bad idea. A bad lawyer
might file a trademark on the word "the" used in a certain context... if the
client is willing to pay. That doesn't mean the trademark is defendable, even
if it does manage to get past the hurdle of being granted.

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marcus_holmes
Being able to trademark common phrases and then sue people for using them
seems to me like a ridiculous thing to try and do, so the system seems to be
working here. I certainly can't see this as a problem of small businesses not
being able to protect their IP. It looks more like someone trying to adapt the
patent troll business model to trademarks.

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gman129
No offense, but your case sounds somewhat similar to patent trolls. "Spread
the word" is your trade mark, huh?! What's next you guys gonna trade mark the
word "Dear" and sue anyone who starts their email with that word?

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powatom
Honestly, I don't think this trademark should ever have been granted in the
first place. It's definitely way too common.

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VikingCoder
> Patents and trademarks are what drives the world’s economies.

Let me just stop you right there.

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embro
You should be sued for wasting Google time!

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yovia
We have the rights for social media services. We don't care about people using
it as descriptive text, we care when they use it to market advertising
services.

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mixologic
You should never have been granted a trademark on a phrase this common. In the
court of public opinion, trying to own a phrase that is already common
parlance, not something you made up, is asinine. You're wasting your investors
money on trying to own this phrase, and you're likely going to get shouted
down here. GLWT.

