Leo Burnett - Cultural Fuel

Ok, I understand if one company patents the whole name but what about when it is only a part of it and even when this word is of such common usage as “Face”.

That’s right, according to a Techcrunch article Facebook is just about to get the official trademark for the word “Face”, all it has to do is pay the issue fee within the next three months. The article quotes the usage of the word “Face” in: Telecommunication services, namely, providing online chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among computer users in the field of general interest and concerning social and entertainment subject matter, none primarily featuring or relating to motoring or to cars.

Of course this act has already created a lot of controversy because of the trade marking of such a common word, even it has already spawned a new troll in which you write the word face … sorry Face™, as many times as possible in coherent and ordinary sentences.

It is clear that this measure will help to eliminate the piggybacking from other sites and that it applies for online telecommunications, but what happens with other no copying sites/apps/brands that already have that word in its name? I just think right now of iPhone’s FaceTime but I’m pretty sure there may be others out there.

Let face it, it may sound ridiculous but what’s next? YouTube patenting “You” or Microsoft doing it for “Hot” and “Mail”?

For those fans of the movie you already know what kind of shoes are those, for those not so big fans of the film, the called Nike Air Mag “Marty McFly” are shoes with an automatic lacing system or “power laces” (like the film says).
For those non-believers, check the World Intellectual Property Organization’s website and see it by yourself. For those who can’t wait to put your hands (or properly speaking, your feet) in one of these, there are no announcements yet if they are even going to hit the market any time soon, but as some predictions made in the film have become reality (check out this list) having a pair of Nikes with “power laces” will be soon a reality.

Trivia: For those who know or not know; the film occurs during the year 2015 and as all the other predictions have happened before that year, we may only have to wait at much 4 more years.