In a rather sneaky manner, Sony has been trying to register a trademark for the popular term “Let’s Play”. However, this being the internet, nothing ever stays quiet forever — as NeoGAF users proved recently. The trademark was discovered recently on the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website, where the relevant documents can still be found here.
Unsurprisingly, this was met with unanimous anger and disdain from the gaming community, as “Let’s Play” has been a well-established term used for years to describe users’ recording and uploading footage of themselves playing video games. A similar situation arose in the past during the trademark dispute between King.com and Stoic Studio regarding the use of the word “Saga”.
To the relief of concerned gamers, the above document seems to imply that Sony’s application would most likely be refused as the USPTO deems it likely that “a potential consumer would be confused, mistaken or deceived as to the source of the goods and/or services of the applicant and registrant”.
Unfortunately for Sony, the negative public sentiment that is expected to arise from this may cause more trouble than it’s worth.
