from the garfield-v.-odie dept
There’s an previous joke that canine and cat house owners could also be conversant in that goes one thing like this. What’s the distinction between canines and cats? With a canine, you give it a snug place to reside, give it a number of love and a spotlight, feed it meals and water, and it subsequently assumes you have to be God. With a cat, you give it a snug place to reside, give it a number of love and a spotlight, feed it meals and water, and it subsequently assumes it have to be God. If there’s any level to that joke in any respect, it’s that cats and canines are very completely different creatures, with completely different reputations, and are sometimes seen as diametrically opposing forces as a cliche.
However when you’re Sony, canines and cats are so comparable that they’ll create trademark confusion, apparently. Within the acknowledged effort to guard its logos for one in all its gaming studios, Naughty Canine, Sony has opposed the trademark software for a tiny overseas cell recreation studio with two App Retailer video games. That studio’s title is Naughty Cat.
Sony Interactive Leisure has filed a Discover of Opposition with the USA Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) towards the “Naughty Cat” trademark software filed by an organization referred to as Naughty Cat Co., Restricted.
This Hong Kong-based firm has two apps listed on the App Retailer, each playing “video games” that promise to reward customers with actual money. That’s a world away from the likes of The Final of Us and Uncharted, however that hasn’t stopped Sony’s attorneys from baring their enamel and barking angrily at their feline competitor.
In paperwork reviewed by IGN, Sony’s attorneys argue that the Naughty Cat trademark is “confusingly comparable” to the Naughty Canine trademark it owns “in general business impression and connotation.”
Notably, Sony doesn’t have a trademark registered for the phrase “naughty” that I can discover. Subsequently, the commonality of that first phrase in each studio names isn’t itself instantly infringing and may solely be cited as contributing to the “general business impression and connotation” of the marks. As a substitute, Sony appears to depend on the concept cats and canines are very comparable within the minds of customers, primarily as a result of they’re pets.
“The primary, dominant component of the 2 marks, NAUGHTY, is similar,” Sony stated. “The second parts, DOG and CAT, are extremely comparable in that each refer to deal with pets and are prone to mislead customers into believing, mistakenly, that Naughty Cat is affiliated with SIE and/or Naughty Canine or that its items are licensed or permitted by SIE and/or Naughty Canine.”
“Registration of Applicant’s Mark will lead the general public to conclude, incorrectly, that Applicant is or has been affiliated or linked with SIE, and/or that Applicant’s items supplied beneath Applicant’s Mark are or have been approved, sponsored, endorsed, or licensed by SIE. Issuance of any registration to Applicant for the proposed mark will lead to harm to SIE and the general public.”
I’m attempting to ascertain an argument towards the concept this isn’t absurd, however I’m failing. There isn’t any suggestion that the corporate logos and branding are in some other approach comparable. The video games they make are wildly completely different. Except you settle for that cats and canines are comparable within the minds of the common shopper, and even morons in numerous states of hurry, then there isn’t a concern over public confusion.
Right here’s what all of it seems like within the App Retailer itself. In the event you assume these listings on this method are in some way going to call to mind Sony’s studio for the buyer, please remark as such beneath so I can yell at you instantly.
I think as an alternative that this can be a easy matter of Sony’s attorneys having completely an excessive amount of time on their fingers, or searching for to invoice for extra hours. Or maybe this can be a results of permission tradition run amok at this explicit firm, resulting in a posture of draconian protectionism over widespread sense.
However what I do know for sure is that this: cats and canines usually are not the identical, nor are they notably comparable.
Filed Beneath: probability of confusion, naughty, naughty cat, naughty canine, trademark
Corporations: sony
