Chinese Company Trademarks Term ‘Ahegao’, Attempts to Stop Production of Merch by Official Manufacturer Fakku

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[–]FediNetizen 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

How can you trademark a term that was already in widespread use?

[–]Tortoise 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I mean, I doubt it would hold up in court.

Kinda like those dumb fucks who tried to patent the word react a bit ago, or the dumb fucks claiming they have a patent on the bisexual flag.

Patent trolls are gonna troll, does not mean it will hold up.

[–]FediNetizen 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Heads up, patents, trademarks, and copyrights are all three separate concepts.

A patent is (supposed to be) for a useful invention or process. Patents last from 14-20 years depending on the type, during which time you have an exclusive monopoly on the use of products or services that make use of your patent, after which they are free for anybody to use. Examples of patents might be a better way to manufacture battery cells, or a way to make phone screens that are more responsive, etc.

A trademark is a brand used to distinguish a product line or a company. Wal-Mart is a trademark, Supreme is a trademark, etc. Trademarks are "indefinite" but can be lost or limited due to brand dilution or the company going out of business. There are limits to what you can trademark, though. You can't just trademark a term already in common use, which is the issue here.

Finally copyright is some intellectual work that has been produced. If you paint something, write a book, an article, take a photo, that work automatically belongs to you. You can then decide how people may use the work. Copyrights last a longass time, I think it's like 70 years or the life of the author, whichever is longer.

[–]Tortoise 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Fair enough.

Either way, it boils down to "I doubt they can actually enforce this shit".