I’d think this was a joke, except for the USPTO entry. Fark has lodged a trademark application for the term “Not Safe For Work.”
According to this USPTO entry, Fark wants sole rights over NSFW in the following areas:
Entertainment Services namely providing a website featuring photographic, audio, video and prose presentations featuring comedic captions regarding current events and online discussions and/or reviews of web materials of an adult nature; Entertainment services, namely, providing a web site featuring musical performances, musical videos, related film clips, photographs, and other multimedia materials; Entertainment services, namely, providing on-line reviews of photogrpahs and /or web postings of an adult nature
As Trademork points out, it might be a little difficult to protect and enforce this mark given its already widespread usage, including a range of other websites the use the term (and the NSFW abbreviation) in their title. NSFW has also become a common term used widely to the point that it even has its own Dictionary entry.
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As Trademork??? What’s Trademork?
LOL™
Someone should claim ROFL.
We were using NSFW back in the BBS days.
Shouldn’t they first use an (R) symbol next to their name on their own website? The ‘Fark’ trademark is registered to them, but they’re not using either the (R) or (TM) symbol, which is a requirement if I’m not mistaken.
No “Farking” way! (TM that)…
Non-TechCrunchies (#1)
Trademork: a blog on trademark news and applications.
Adrian Keys (#5)
My original draft said “I’d think this was a farking joke TM…” but I thought I might get into trouble with certain sensitive ppl so I dropped it
“Not Safe For Work”
Are the talking about Linux?
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
The stupidest thing about this is that if anyone other than Fark had done this, there would be a “Stupid”, “Idiotic”, “Dumbass”, or “Asinine” tag next to it on their home page.
That reminders me when Donald Trump trademarked “you’re fired!”. How did that work out for him?
who will trademark WTF? WTH? LOL? Why don’y you trademark the whole Oxford Dictionary and file Chapter 11?
Yeah, where’s the Asinine icon when you need it?
I am absolutely “positive” that the adult industry will agree, with open arms, to pay someone use on their websites common, every day, terminology.
BTW(R) can’t FART get money through investments, like everyone else. Or did they decided to extort money from others, because they do not want anyone breading down their neck?
if they’re able to pull off that trademark claim, they’ll be one step closer to getting vc cash money
trademark for “not safe for work” ? LOL. are they some kind of a construction company. hehe
Ha ha.
P.S.
“Non-TechCrunchies (#1)”, that would be 99% of your readers.
There’s a reason folks have begun jumping off that sinking ship. Its a corporate website now that has gone from being about user generated content to selling the users and their efforts out in favor of a big payday.
Viva La BanniNation
http://www.bannination.com
Haha… how’s about I trademark STFU and send a little piece of it to Drew Curtis for xmas.
FARK’s a terrible service in my opinion, and now they’re resorting to extortion to make money - here’s a suggestion; if you stop charging people to view 1/2 the content, you might catch the eye of VC’s and won’t need to file rediculous trademarks that nobody in their right mind would grant.
OMG! I LOL.
OTH, this is a link from a Fark subsidiary: http://www.erotic8.com/?p=1098
About as bad as Pat Riley tradmarking threepeat. Of course, he got it, so I won’t be surprised if Fark gets it trademark as well.
Isn’t NSFW pretty much public domain already?
I’m going to trademark, “BUY NOW”.
sincerely,
angela hayden
art goddess
I would also pay $250 for the trademark and coverage on TechCrunch.
ORLY?
I’m going to apply to trademark “Boobies.”
Every suckling infant to every strip club operator will owe me money. Even just thinking of “Boobies” will be an infraction. I’m going to make a mint off of teenage boys.
I’ve been using Fark since… well not long after its inception. Having a fark user # in the three digits (it’s what? 300,000 registrations now) and I find it ridiculous.
Fark long had the tradition of taking the piss out of everyone and everything. Now they have become what they once mocked.
I’ll let my totalfark membership lapse and no more occasional flutters on the Classifieds to pimp a site or a page here and there.
I think it’s a bit late to do this now…
Cheers,
Aidan
http://www.MappingTheWeb.com
I trademarked LOL, WTF, and OMG last year. You guys are way behind.
Has anyone seen the Crunchie category for “Best Use of Viral Marketing?”
The Comotion Group vote often
Okay, so we’re not in Kansas anymore…
…..It’s not web -1.0 where, say, toothpicks.com would be valued at $63 billion, and where a “wizard” named Bezos would
announce every hour on the hour a wholly new products category never sold online before and then watch as his paper value exponentially increases by a Gadzillion bucks……
… .and then pulling all the levers, dials, steam valves,stops, shrieking about his latest merchandising ‘innovation’ perpetuated one of the greatest hoaxes in all the Web -1.0 Land of Oz, one click ordering.
How it made me loath that charlatan….
…and in light of a bit of internet history Fark doesn’t fare bad at all.
Should have a Dumbass tag…
pat riley (3-peat) approves
How about Not Suitable For Wark? Maybe they can do that one. But these guys have too much time on their hands. They’ll have to prove that they came up with the line, which is nearly impossible, because shit like this has no time-stamped document and it is so widely used across the web now. It’s like me wanting to trademark my name and if someone were to ever be caught saying it, I would have to hire some valuation expert to examine the damages and then file a lawsuit…
Is the Trademork blogger an intellectual property attorney?
We had a very similar situation, with a competitor filing a trademark for a phrase that is used all over the place in our field. I did the Googling and called up the attorney assigned to the application at the USPTO. She told me that it didn’t matter that thousands of others used it.
The fact situation was that the woman filing the trademark had been using it since before the (widespread use of) the Internet. She had never attempted to protect it until a year ago. A decade or more of others using it.
Someone should call up the attorney assigned to the Fark application, but don’t assume this will be thrown out before talking to someone who knows what they’re talking about.
well if paris hilton can ™ “That’s hot” and Donald Trump “You’re fired” then why not. Pretty soon the word “the” will be trademarked. And patented.
Fark.com is not safe for work. lol.
http://www.bradrealtalk.blogspot.com
Link failure in previous post
I love dicks.
Non-Techcrunchies, Trademork is a website fucking retard.
I don’t understand why this is such a bid deal. Common words and phrases are trademarked all the time. Just think of APPLE, for computers and software.