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Levi_charlz

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I've done some research and found there are several Animation Studios that have Live Trademarks such as 'Fox Animation Studios', 'Universal Animation Studios' among a few others.

My question is this. I hold 'VR Animation Studio' and considering that there are already so many 'Keyword + Animation Studios' Trademarked would you envisage a problem Trademarking this Domain?

I've a member of the forum tell me I should drop the domain as it's too generic but how would this be more generic than the above Trademarks that are already registered?
 
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Fox and Universal are more than just animation studios. Their marks were used before they ventured into anamation.
 
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I would assume you can't just trademark a domain name, you need a business behind it
 
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I would assume you can't just trademark a domain name, you need a business behind it

I applied for my business Trademark long before I was trading. I certainly wouldn't of invested my time into my business without it.

Apologies for the confusion. I didn't mean trademark the domain name but the words 'VR Animation Studio'.
 
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I'm curious, who told you to drop it? DM me if you don't mind telling me who told you and you don't want to post their name publicly.
 
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I'm curious, who told you to drop it? DM me if you don't mind telling me who told you and you don't want to post their name publicly.

Hi, why do you ask? I would prefer not to say as I couldn't be 100% sure their advice was given with honourable intentions or not.
 
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I ask, because I was simply curious who would give you such bad advice to drop what in my opinion is an excellent name! Just curious that's all! Good Luck with the name!
 
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how would this be more generic than the above Trademarks that are already registered?

"Fox Animation Studio" is not descriptive or generic of anything. A fox is an animal that lives in the woods. What is a "fox animation studio"?

Likewise a "Universal Animation Studio". What is "universal animation"?

But first let's dispense with the misinformation your OP about those marks. The first one is for the logo:

http://tsdr.uspto.gov/img/75976178/large?1498883170348

and includes the notation: "NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "ANIMATION STUDIOS" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN" because "animation studios" apart from the logo simply refers to animation studios.

The story is similar with the second one you mention which, while a textual mark, likewise states "NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "ANIMATION STUDIOS" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOW".

What makes either of these marks distinctive in relation to animation studios generally, are the addition of the words "FOX" and "UNIVERSAL" which themselves do not refer to animation.

I didn't mean trademark the domain name but the words 'VR Animation Studio'.

Presumably for goods or services relating to an animation studio of some kind?

You don't mention anything about actually running any sort of business using this as a "mark", and the only thing going on at the corresponding page is a "domain for sale" web page.

Long story short, since I've told it many times before, and apparently people only read the legal section when they have a question.... The USPTO is not a place where you "get trademarks". It is the place where you can obtain registration of a trademark that you are already using as a trademark (or which you intend to use as one, and they don't issue the registration until you actually DO use it as a trademark).

So, the initial question is, what sorts of goods or services are you providing under this trademark that you want to register?

More broadly, as I often do, I wonder "Do people really think you pay the USPTO $300 and they give you some kind of magic exclusive right in whatever you send them?" But, whatever...

So, let's assume for a moment that the status of the webpage notwithstanding, you are in fact running some kind of business under this mark, and your goods/services are marked as coming from "VR Animation Studios".

VR, as I understand it, is the standard acronym for "virtual reality".

So, while I don't know what a "fox animation studio" might do... perhaps make animated foxes, or what a "universal animation studio" might do, I believe it is pretty clear that a "vr animation studio" would be engaged in creating animation for virtual reality.

I mean, that's pretty much what you state on the page:

"VR and Animation is a match made in heaven and with many studios already preparing to release full length Animated Movies it wont be long before your transported into your favourite Animated Movie. The potential is endless and the demand is increasing. With Virtual Reality still in it's Infancy VRAnimationStudios.com is an amazing opportunity to Invest in a Premium Domain for your business."

but how would this be more generic than the above Trademarks that are already registered?

Your own web page answers that question. The entire point of your pitch is that it is not distinctive of any particular animation studio, but would be a good name for a virtual reality animation studio.

Let me see if I can make this simpler....

"DAIRY QUEEN" is a well known trademark for a fast food franchise in the US which features a variety of ice cream (or whatever it is) products.

I'd like to register a trademark for "Dairy Cow" for nothing in particular, and I have a webpage at DairyCow.com that says "this is a great domain name if your business involves dairy cows".

Well that's just not going to work. Dairies are places where, yep, there are cows. In fact, you can't have a much of a dairy without at least one cow.

Dairies don't have queens. In fact, I'm not sure that dairies are operated on any principles of government at all, let alone a monarchy of some kind. So, for that reason, "DAIRY QUEEN" does not actually refer to anything you'd actually find at a dairy, unless HRH Elizabeth II drops by to squeeze a few teats. But even then, she is the monarch of the UK and the Commonwealth, and not any particular dairy.

But dairies do have cows. So "Dairy Cow" isn't going to be distinctive as a mark for anything having to do with dairies and/or cows. If you want to sell, say, violins, and mark them "Dairy Cow" then, sure, it would be a very distinctive mark for violins. But that doesn't really seem to be the sort of thing that your webpage is driving at, in relation to the functional descriptive utility of the phrase "VR Animation Studios" to the field of VR animation.
 
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"Fox Animation Studio" is not descriptive or generic of anything. A fox is an animal that lives in the woods. What is a "fox animation studio"?

Likewise a "Universal Animation Studio". What is "universal animation"?

But first let's dispense with the misinformation your OP about those marks. The first one is for the logo:

http://tsdr.uspto.gov/img/75976178/large?1498883170348

and includes the notation: "NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "ANIMATION STUDIOS" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN" because "animation studios" apart from the logo simply refers to animation studios.

The story is similar with the second one you mention which, while a textual mark, likewise states "NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE "ANIMATION STUDIOS" APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOW".

What makes either of these marks distinctive in relation to animation studios generally, are the addition of the words "FOX" and "UNIVERSAL" which themselves do not refer to animation.



Presumably for goods or services relating to an animation studio of some kind?

You don't mention anything about actually running any sort of business using this as a "mark", and the only thing going on at the corresponding page is a "domain for sale" web page.

Long story short, since I've told it many times before, and apparently people only read the legal section when they have a question.... The USPTO is not a place where you "get trademarks". It is the place where you can obtain registration of a trademark that you are already using as a trademark (or which you intend to use as one, and they don't issue the registration until you actually DO use it as a trademark).

So, the initial question is, what sorts of goods or services are you providing under this trademark that you want to register?

More broadly, as I often do, I wonder "Do people really think you pay the USPTO $300 and they give you some kind of magic exclusive right in whatever you send them?" But, whatever...

So, let's assume for a moment that the status of the webpage notwithstanding, you are in fact running some kind of business under this mark, and your goods/services are marked as coming from "VR Animation Studios".

VR, as I understand it, is the standard acronym for "virtual reality".

So, while I don't know what a "fox animation studio" might do... perhaps make animated foxes, or what a "universal animation studio" might do, I believe it is pretty clear that a "vr animation studio" would be engaged in creating animation for virtual reality.

I mean, that's pretty much what you state on the page:

"VR and Animation is a match made in heaven and with many studios already preparing to release full length Animated Movies it wont be long before your transported into your favourite Animated Movie. The potential is endless and the demand is increasing. With Virtual Reality still in it's Infancy VRAnimationStudios.com is an amazing opportunity to Invest in a Premium Domain for your business."



Your own web page answers that question. The entire point of your pitch is that it is not distinctive of any particular animation studio, but would be a good name for a virtual reality animation studio.

Let me see if I can make this simpler....

"DAIRY QUEEN" is a well known trademark for a fast food franchise in the US which features a variety of ice cream (or whatever it is) products.

I'd like to register a trademark for "Dairy Cow" for nothing in particular, and I have a webpage at DairyCow.com that says "this is a great domain name if your business involves dairy cows".

Well that's just not going to work. Dairies are places where, yep, there are cows. In fact, you can't have a much of a dairy without at least one cow.

Dairies don't have queens. In fact, I'm not sure that dairies are operated on any principles of government at all, let alone a monarchy of some kind. So, for that reason, "DAIRY QUEEN" does not actually refer to anything you'd actually find at a dairy, unless HRH Elizabeth II drops by to squeeze a few teats. But even then, she is the monarch of the UK and the Commonwealth, and not any particular dairy.

But dairies do have cows. So "Dairy Cow" isn't going to be distinctive as a mark for anything having to do with dairies and/or cows. If you want to sell, say, violins, and mark them "Dairy Cow" then, sure, it would be a very distinctive mark for violins. But that doesn't really seem to be the sort of thing that your webpage is driving at, in relation to the functional descriptive utility of the phrase "VR Animation Studios" to the field of VR animation.

I wasn't interested in submitting a trademark registration as such but was curious to see if anyone thought it would be possible to successfully register a TM as words or as a distinguishable logo in the class relevant to Animation Studios regardless of any reference or use of the domain name and website contents of the domain mentioned.

Thanks for your very thorough response, it's much appreciated and confirmed my suspicions.
 
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