FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper” • Hacker News Board

Re: FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper”

#11

Post by Tyrannosaurs » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:25 PM UTC

ar7hur wrote: post #7

Come on, 53. That whole story is the best thing that can happen to you. Publicity.

A company who've raised $15m in funding isn't looking for the sort of publicity you get among people who talk about tech company Trademark cases most of whom knew about them anyway.

If the whole thing was mainstream maybe but this isn't really publicity for them, not in any meaningful sense.

Re: FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper”

#12

Post by MrWhargarbl » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:25 PM UTC

Why were people so up in arms over King's attempt to trademark "Candy", but suddenly it's OK to trademark "Paper"?!?

Re: FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper”

#13

Post by harlanlewis » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:28 PM UTC

harlanlewis wrote: post #6

Leaving aside the debate over trademarking common words, it's surprising FiftyThree hadn't already trademarked their product names. They charge a premium price for well-branded products - trademarking those names should have happened as a matter of course.

...just read TFA, looks like they did do some trademarkin:

> FiftyThree’s only trademark in the USPTO was for “Paper by FiftyThree”.

Re: FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper”

#14

Post by sp332 » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:29 PM UTC

MrWhargarbl wrote: post #12

Why were people so up in arms over King's attempt to trademark "Candy", but suddenly it's OK to trademark "Paper"?!?

King used their trademarks to attack smaller players. FiftyThree is using theirs to defend against a larger player. Also, King has trademarked "Candy" across a lot of areas where they don't even have products. The application for "Paper" seems more specific.

Re: FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper”

#15

Post by kristofferR » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:32 PM UTC

It's good that Facebook finally gets a taste of their own medicine (they've sued other sites for using Book in their name).

Re: FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper”

#16

Post by rubyrescue » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:34 PM UTC

dylandrop wrote: post #10

Is this really the best usage of your funding cash? Seems like half of 53's $15M can go down the drain with this sort of thing. I sort of expect FB Paper to flop like the Facebook phone OS thing; if I were 53 I wouldn't be going so ballistic over this. Best case, they get the trademark and Facebook whittles down all of their funding in order for them to get it. Better for them to just move on and recognize that their…

it costs about $1000-$2000

Re: FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper”

#17

Post by slg » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:35 PM UTC

dylandrop wrote: post #10

Is this really the best usage of your funding cash? Seems like half of 53's $15M can go down the drain with this sort of thing. I sort of expect FB Paper to flop like the Facebook phone OS thing; if I were 53 I wouldn't be going so ballistic over this. Best case, they get the trademark and Facebook whittles down all of their funding in order for them to get it. Better for them to just move on and recognize that their…

If there goal is to make money and let's be honest, that is the goal of most start-ups, is this really a bad plan? It seems like it is a high risk/high reward proposition that most people on here love. Sure the odds Facebook's Paper being a success aren't sky high. Same with the chance of Facebook agreeing to a licensing agreement on the name. But when you compare the potential income from that to a fancy iPad app and stylus, it seems clear that litigation route might be the better use of VC funds.

And that is the problem with the current legal environment.

Re: FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper”

#18

Post by myko » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:37 PM UTC

dylandrop wrote: post #10

Is this really the best usage of your funding cash? Seems like half of 53's $15M can go down the drain with this sort of thing. I sort of expect FB Paper to flop like the Facebook phone OS thing; if I were 53 I wouldn't be going so ballistic over this. Best case, they get the trademark and Facebook whittles down all of their funding in order for them to get it. Better for them to just move on and recognize that their…

> I sort of expect FB Paper to flop

I hope not. It's much nicer than the official Facebook app. I think they ought to replace the official client with it.

Re: FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper”

#19

Post by kin » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:37 PM UTC

Honestly, I think this was a defensive move in case FB decided to trademark 'Paper'.

Re: FiftyThree Files Trademark For “Paper”

#20

Post by malandrew » Tue, Feb 04, 2014, 5:43 PM UTC

rubyrescue wrote: post #16

dylandrop wrote: post #10

Is this really the best usage of your funding cash? Seems like half of 53's $15M can go down the drain with this sort of thing. I sort of expect FB Paper to flop like the Facebook phone OS thing; if I were 53 I wouldn't be going so ballistic over this. Best case, they get the trademark and Facebook whittles down all of their funding in order for them to get it. Better for them to just move on and recognize that their…

it costs about $1000-$2000

Yeah, filing a trademark doesn't cost that much in the grand scheme of things, especially when you've built up as much brand equity around the name as 53 has.

A lawsuit on the other hand would burn through cash, but IANAL so I don't know if the damages they could extract from Facebook would be worth it. Maybe being in a lawsuit against goliath would make the lawsuit pay for itself as free advertising, since I reckon journalists will enjoy writing about such a case.