14 DAY TRIAL // Dutch movie distributor, Dutch Filmworks, pulled a petty move this summer, registering the Popcorn Time trademark for the Benelux area.
More dubious and a black spot on the Dutch government's trademark office is the fact that the movie company that registered the logo and Popcorn Time text clearly did not create them, knowledge which everyone employed at the trademark office could have found out by simply going on Google.
The entire move is extremely shady, and despite the fact that the Dutch Filmworks spokesperson told TorrentFreak that the company does not intend to enforce the trademark, this is clearly someone blowing smoke in your face, or someone that does not know how trademarks and copyright work.
It is a well-known fact that to keep its copyright, Adobe has forced Envato to change the name of one of its marketplaces from FlashDen to ActiveDen.
Additionally, it's been reported thousands of times in various domain-related news portals, about the lawsuits brought against domain squatters, which were forced in almost all cases to give up domain names which contained trademarked words.
What we are trying to say is that a company has to enforce its copyright to be able to keep it.
A sneaky move, brilliant in some scenarios, but one that can be overturned
So despite the fact that the Dutch Filmworks person said they don't intend to enforce it, they will probably have to.
But another comment from the company spokesperson may give us more clues, "Looking ahead to anticipated steps the Dutch government may take against streaming piracy, it seemed sensible to deprive them [Popcorn Time developers] of the trademark rights in our market already.”
Opportunistic or not, it appears that the movie industry has found a new way to fight, or at least impede the free flow of movie-sharing applications.
As with most countries' trademark offices, if they wish, Popcorn Time's creators could appeal the trademark ruling, and since they're the real creators of the name and logo, they'll have a real chance of getting it overturned.