14 DAY TRIAL // The world is full of stupid trademarks and copyrighted material, and it looks like Sony doesn’t want to miss that train. The company aims to trademark “Let's Play.”
Sony has many trademarks for stuff like Betamax, Cassette-corder (not a spelling mistake), Disturb the Peace, Handycam, pretty much anything related to PlayStation, Walkman, and others. The Wikipedia entry is a nice read, and I suspect that there are probably a lot more that haven’t been added.
Most of the trademarks listed make sense since they are usually connected to some of the technologies that the company has developed over time. They probably think that, since they are using it extensively, they should also own it so that no one can use it. There are a few VPs and lawyers at the Sony headquarters who think this is a brilliant idea.
What are others doing?
So, what are other companies doing when they have specific phrases? Nvidia, for example, wanted to trademark “The Way It’s Meant to Be Played,” but it looks like the application has been rejected. This should give some hope that they are not giving trademarks to anyone.
One the other hand, Electronic Arts successfully trademarked “It’s in the Game.” They didn’t have any problem obtaining the trademark, which makes us think that they are not all that serious when issuing trademarks. As a side note, it took about three months to get the trademark for “It’s in the Game,” which was obtained in December 2015.
At this point, it seems that Sony has a 50/50 chance of getting the trademark, which isn’t bad for the two VPs and a couple of lawyers at Sony. One thing is certain: nothing will change after they trademark “Let's Play,” with the exception that pretty much any gamer will be in breach of their trademark whenever they invite a friend to play.