JPHiP Forum

General => Akihabara => Topic started by: Foxy Brown on December 12, 2007, 01:15:34 AM

Title: Fark.com trying to get trademark on "Not Safe For Work"
Post by: Foxy Brown on December 12, 2007, 01:15:34 AM

Abbreviations, acronyms, and memes fall in and out of fashion on the Internet all of the time. Today's "I can has cheeseburger?" is often tomorrow's "All your base are belong to us." Some stand the test of time, including phrases like "not safe for work" (NSFW), which is used in forums, chatrooms, and blogs across the world to warn folks that something they're about to see could give the boss fits. Late last month, offbeat news site Fark.com filed for a trademark on the phrase with the US Patent and Trademark Office. (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071209-fark-com-trying-to-get-trademark-on-not-safe-for-work.html)

Title: Re: Fark.com trying to get trademark on "Not Safe For Work"
Post by: Dronak on January 01, 2008, 11:55:36 PM

I think I heard about this a while ago.  I wonder what will happen.  It seems kind of strange to me to attempt to claim a trademark for something that's been in public, general use for some time.  However, I also recently saw that Despair, Inc. was awarded a registered trademark on the common frown emoticon (colon dash left_paren.), but this apparently happened some time ago; see for example the news at http://despair.com/frownonthis.html.  So you never know what's going to happen.