Category: Trademarks

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Zynga files trademark for “With Friends” with the US Patent and Trademark Office

Zynga with Friends

On March1, 2011, Zynga filed for a trademark on the word “ville” in Europe. 

Days later, Zynga then followed “ville” with an application in Europe for “With Friends” on March 7. 

Now, the social gaming giant which filed for its IPO on July 1, has filed an application (No. 85361265) for trademark rights on the word mark “With Friends” in the United States.

As opposed to the European trademark filing [read here] which covers three different categories of goods and services ranging from clothing and footwear to education, the U.S. trademark is much simpler:

“Providing an online portal for computer games, video games, and gaming applications; providing information about computer games, video games, and gaming applications via the Internet.”

It was revealed in Zynga’s IPO filing that the company paid $53.3 million for the purchase of Newtoy, the developer of “Words With Friends” and other popular “With Friends” games.

Considering the amount paid for NewToy was its largest of any of its acquisitions, the company is definitely interested in protecting its “With Friends” brands, although it may ruffle some feathers as it did with its application for “Ville”.

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Patentville.com ‘trademark filed by Zynga’ goes up for auction on aftermarket

patentville

Earlier this year, social gaming giant Zynga filed a trademark application on the word “Patentville” with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).  The European trademark covered, among other things, leather and imitations of leather and footwear.

Back in April, I wrote about Zynga not owning the matching domain name: patentville.com. 

A few months later, that’s still the case.  However, it may not be for long.

The domain was owned by The Law Office of Michael P. Eddy, who also happens to be the owner of patent.org. 

Shortly after my first story ran, a website appeared on Patentville.com. 

Now, as of June 30, 2011, the domain name has expired with its registrar at Fabulous and is now listed for sale at NameJet, the aftermarket auction company who lists exclusive inventory of expired and deleted domains from top domain name registrars including Fabulous.

Patentville.com

Although you can expect bidders, it’s likely the domain name (which is in pre-release) will be renewed by Michael Eddy before the backorder deadline.

Zynga may no longer have plans for Patentville.  But it wouldn’t be the first time the company has filed a trademark or registered a domain name with nothing materializing other than some internet buzz.

As of today, the company has yet to file a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

You can view a certified copy of the European trademark application form by Zynga here.

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Updates on Top 10 Fusible stories, June

Google Photovine

There were a lot of stories that got attention in June 2011 on Fusible, here are the Top 10.

1. Google set to launch Photovine?
After I posted the original story, I wasn’t 100 percent sure Google owned the matching domain to its secretive project until the Whois record switched from DNStination Inc. to Google Inc. in late June.  Still, as of today, a message on the Photovine homepage says it all: “Nothing to see here, move along.”

2.  Will Zynga give The Sims on Facebook a run for its money with Familyville?
Zynga has been busy filing for an IPO, so whether Zynga has plans to take on Electronic Arts and “The Sims” on Facebook with a new game called Familyville’, is just rumor.  But don’t discount the possibility before you’ve read all the details.

3.  Twitter finally files domain dispute over typo – Twiter.com
Twitter filed a dispute over Twiter.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization, then shortly after the filing twiter.biz was added to the same case, then the case was suspended.  I can’t make out if the case is suspended or active, since the list of cases says it is ‘Suspended’ but the summary page says it’s ‘Case Active’.  Either way, something tells me this open-and-shut case will be decided at WIPO since the current owner continues to redirect users to survey sites that try to collect personal information. 

4.  Twitter buys the domain re-tweet.com: Plans to take on Tweetmeme?
Matthew Panzarino, a writer for The Next Web, contacted Twitter to find out what’s in the works for the domain re-tweet.com.  Turns out, Twitter has no current plans for the future of ‘re-tweet.com’.  The previous owner apparently offered up the name to Twitter, and Twitter took ownership as part of their ‘brand protection strategy’.

5.  How to get a Twitter username that’s already taken (Hint: It’s easy, I got mine)
I was able to get my hands on the Twitter username @fusible even though it was already taken by another individual, following these very simple steps.  If you don’t have any luck with that approach, then try this approach using TweetClaims.

6.  Microsoft Corporation acquires the domain name Halo4.com, price unknown
The story on Microsoft acquiring the domain name Halo4.com sparked a lively discussion on some sites.  I chatted with the previous owner, who couldn’t say in so many words whether Microsoft acquired the domain or demanded it.  But if you read between the lines, you may come to the conclusion that Microsoft ended up paying big bucks for the name.

7.  Tweet: Stick to .com, it will remain on top
Since my brief story ran on Ryan Colby, he has since changed his Twitter username from @Sedobroker to @Rjcolby. When I asked him via email his thoughts on Twitter, Ryan had this to say: “I think that Twitter works especially well in my line of work.  I utilize it primarily to update my clients on breaking information in the domain name marketplace.  This includes new exclusive listings for sale, price updates,special requests from buyers and sellers, etc.  I also provide insights on domain name valuations, SEO and anything that can add value to domain name investors.  I like Twitter because it keeps pace with the speed of information.  In domain brokerage, every day is a new opportunity.  Names go on and off the market for sale quickly, so speed is a critical factor in putting the big deals together in this industry.”  DomainSherpa’s Michael Cyger also has a great interview with him.

8.  Dozens of domain registrations by J.K. Rowling’s firm may lead to more clues
The recent Pottermore mystery everyone was trying to figure out, is no longer a mystery.  It was officially announched as an ebook site of Harry Potter books.  I had unearthed dozens of domain names  (including pottermorebooks.com) created by the Christopher Little Literary Agency, going all the way back to June 2009 when Pottermore.com was first registered.  In related news, J.K. Rowling also terminated her association with her long-time agent, Christopher Little.

9.  Former Twitter CEO Evan Williams: 5 reasons domains getting less important
Evan Williams hasn’t posted any new blogs since this story ran, but he did tweet about it only saying this: “I never said they won’t matter, just that they’ll matter less”.

10. Garry Chernoff: One $45 domain purchase, one $500,000 domain sale
I haven’t heard from Garry since early June when he sold adnet.com for $60,000, but what a revelation to learn that his $500,000 domain sale of gamesforgirls.com reported earlier this year, was a domain he acquired for less than $50.

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

RockYou wants to compete with Zynga with its newest domain registration: GalacticAllies.com

rockyou

Founded in 2005, RockYou is one of the top developers in the social gaming space with over 13 million monthly active users of its games, according to the site AppData. 

Social gaming is a very competitive market and now it seems that RockYou will be creating its own outerspace-like version of Zynga’s popular title Empires & Allies, which has skyrocketed to the #2 spot on the App Leaderboard with nearly 50 million monthly active users.

You read it here first, RockYou’s upcoming futuristic game title will be called: Galactic Allies.

This past week the company registered the domain name galacticallies.com, which considering the popularity of Empires & Allies at the moment and games like Halo, it is not surprising to see a game like this in the works.

In early June, RockYou acquired 3 Blokes to help it develop social combat games as pointed out by TechCrunch.

RockYou is taking this game seriously.  In addition to the domain registration, it also filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on “Galactic Allies”.

GALACTIC ALLIES trademark application

Here’s a look at the Whois record.

Registrant:
   Rock You
   425 Broadway Street
   Redwood City, California 94063
   United States

   Domain Name: GALACTICALLIES.COM
      Created on: 29-Jun-11
      Expires on: 29-Jun-13
      Last Updated on: 29-Jun-11

Registering the domain name before making any announcement is a smart move by RockYou, who hasn’t had much luck securing domain names to match its gaming brands. 

Domains like zooworld.com and gourmetranch.com have eluded the company, while other companies like Zynga have been willing to shell out big bucks to secure their .com brand.  Zynga purchased cityville.com on the domain aftermarket for $38,000 in June 2010.

Cityville is now ranked the #1 game on Facebook.

Discussion: Business Insider

Categories
Disputes News Trademarks WIPO

Transfer denied to Systemware in domain dispute over Cite.com

Complainant denied

This result is not surprising.  Panelist Christopher J. Pibus has denied Systemware, Inc. of Addison, Texas, the domain name cite.com, in a dispute filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

On April 26, 2011, a complaint was filed with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center.  The complainant, Systemware, operates a business which provides database management software and filed filed a trademark application for the mark CITE on March 17, 2011.

According to WIPO, the Respondent Gene Volovich registered the domain name cite.com on March 26, 1997.  

That’s right, Gene registered the domain name fourteen years earlier.

Systemware argued that it invested a significant amount of money to promote its business and trademark, despite only filing the application a month earlier.  Even before Systemware filed for a trademark application on CITE, other trademarks had already been registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office by other companies, but never disputed.

Systemware also argued that Gene had no legitimate rights or interests to the disputed domain name because he is not commonly known by the name CITE, and was never authorized or licensed by Systemware to use the CITE trademark,which it filed for 14 years after the domain was first registered.

Panelist Christopher J. Pibus found that cite.com is identical to Systemware’s trademark CITE, except for the addition of “.com”, but since Gene registered the domain 14 years earlier, he had legitimate rights or interests to the name.

As a result of failing to satisfy the requirement for “Rights or Legitimate Interests”, Systemware was denied the domain name and no finding was made on the “Bad Faith” claim, which can help in supporting claims of reverse domain name hijacking if there is no finding of “Bad Faith”.

Although there wasn’t any finding of reverse domain name hijacking against Systemware, Gene did contend that Systemware was attempting to hijack the name.

Now it looks like Systemware will have to shell out serious bucks to purchase the name if it really wants it.  The company filed another trademark application this past week on CITE, this time for cloud computing featuring software for use in database management.