It won’t surprise you to hear that Google is desperately trying to trademark the world Glass—but it may raise a wry smile on your face when you find out that the U.S. government is taking exception to the idea.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the US Patent and Trademark Office has objected to granting Google a trademark for Glass. There are two grounds for its refusal. First, it claims that trademarking the term will cause confusion between Google’s product and others that use glass in the name—like Microsoft’s SmartGlass. Second, it deems the word “glass” to be “merely descriptive.” It’s usually very difficult to trademark generic terms, and Google is finding that out now. Clearly, with simple and clear naming comes some administrative headaches.
In response to the trademark office’s objections, Google’s lawyers sent a 1,928-page letter—imagine that!—largely filled with with articles discussing Glass, to try and show that the name has already cemented itself in popular culture. It also tries to argue that “glass” isn’t a merely descriptive term, noting that “the frame and display components of the Glass device do not consist of glass at all.” Err, right. The patent office is yet to reach a final decision. [Wall Street Journal]
