Can Pwnage be Pwned?!

by Jordan Yerman | March 6, 2008 at 09:29 am

273 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

It's very, very clear that the term "pwnage" ("ownage") has been in the public parlance for... well, I don't know how long, but google it and see how many hits you get.

On February 26, 2008, Finnish software development company Futuremark filed to protect the trademark Pwnage in relation to “computer game software and computer game programs enabling users to play games with mobile phones and personal digital assistants” and “online computer games provided via network between communications networks and computers”.

Known for its computer benchmarking software, Futuremark recently announced that it would become a video game developer as well.

You'd
think that the nearly 2 million Google results that show up on the term
would suggest that it's already generic and not deserving of a
trademark, but I guess we'll find out what the USPTO has to say about
the matter soon enough.