Snap Files Lawsuit After Yearslong Effort to Trademark 'Spectacles'

[mahatmakanejeeves]

That sound you hear is me scratching my head.

Snap, the parent company of the social-media app Snapchat, has sued the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over its rejection to trademark the word “spectacles” for the company’s wearable smart glasses

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Snap Files Lawsuit After Yearslong Effort to Trademark ‘Spectacles’
The social-media company is suing the patent office over its rejection of a trademark for Snapchat’s wearable smart glasses.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. That's a ridiculous lawsuit. "Spectacles" is a generic term, can't be trademarked

It's not like "Windows", which was a metaphor, not a literal term. (However, windows was a software term used for a few years prior to Microsoft building on the research of Xerox PARC.)

It would be like somebody trying to trademark "Automobile" for a car brand. If you had, say, a walking exercise app, you could trademark that as AutoMobile because that would be a metaphor, not a literal term.

[Eugene]

2. "Spectacles" is a synonym for eyeglasses, used especially in Commonwealth countries.

They are not only trying to trademark a common noun, it's a common term in that very marketplace.

This is like trying to trademark "tyre" or "bonnet" for automotive use.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. You don't need X-Ray Specs to see through this.

Source: https://pixels.com/featured/x-ray-specs-100-reinvintaged.html

Also see: X-Ray Spex



and

X-ray specs