Sony Tries To Trademark ‘Let’s Play,’ Fails

Okay, so this was just a dick move, and would have pissed off countless people if it had come to pass. Apparently, Sony filed a trademark for the phrase ‘Let’s Play.’ You know, the term that is used for YouTube videos showing personalities playing through games, often with commentary that adds flavor to the broadcast, and other times just as a video walkthrough.

It’s a term that has become so ingrained in our daily vocabulary, we don’t even stop and think about it. But Sony was going to trademark it – presumably because of the PS4’s extensive in built sharing and broadcasting features – although their trademark application failed.

That’s the good news- the bad news is that the rejection was not for the right reason. See, for any common phrase that is trademarked by a company, the company in question needs to demonstrate that the phrase has acquired a distinct secondary meaning that directly recalls the products of the company. Sony was unable to demonstrate this- but that’s not why their trademark application failed. It failed because of its similarities to another trademark filed a while back, for “LP LET’Z PLAY,” filed by a company that offers live video game tournaments.

The worse news is that Sony has six months to respond to this refusal- and they may just manage to successfully appeal. In which case a very basic and common term that has existed for far longer than the PS4 or its sharing features, will be Sony property.

Terrible.