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Is Sony Trying To Trademark The Term Let’s Play?

Let’s Play videos have been huge on video streaming sites such as YouTube and have become part of the gaming scene and beyond. A recent trademark by Sony suggests that the company is trying to trademark the term Let’s Play and the definition is as follows: ‘Electronic transmission and streaming of video games via global and local computer networks; streaming of audio, visual, and audiovisual material via global and local computer networks’. Sony’s application was recently on the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Whether they are successful seems doubtful, but stranger things have happened.

Source / Via

Thanks, Cheatmaster30

66 thoughts on “Is Sony Trying To Trademark The Term Let’s Play?”

  1. Stupidity at its finest. It’s a term that people use to describe what they are doing, a verb in some way. How can a company, that didn’t even think of this at first, not even marketing the term as youtubers did, take control over it as trademark? Who has been drinking too much alcohol at Sony?

        1. Jaded Ridley X3 {I'm not whining, you suckers... *cough* ..poor souls! I've just been driven insane by Nintendo failing me one too many times this gen!}

          The guy that patented it for them at the patent’s office should be shot, hanged, & burned at the stake.

      1. Came here to post this. It’s fucking stupid, and I love Sony. I don’t know what companies are thinking sometimes.

    1. Problem is, no one else has trademarked it. So by law, they can try if they want to.

      Do I agree with the law all the time? Obviously not, as I think I’ve made that pretty clear around here. This is very stupid, more so with all the good press Sony has been getting lately, so who ever thought this was a good idea needs to be fired.

      1. Jaded Ridley X3 {I'm not whining, you suckers... *cough* ..poor souls! I've just been driven insane by Nintendo failing me one too many times this gen!}

        You didn’t finish your last sentence so I’ll finish it for you.

        fired right into the sun!* Fixed.

      1. LOL. Dumbest comment I’ve read in a while, and considering we’re on MNN, that definitely means something.

        If you’re not interested in the games the PS4 is getting, that’s absolutely okay. But saying there’s a lack of games and content makes you look really, really silly.

          1. Well, I visit this website pretty regularly and read most of its articles + comments, so technically, I don’t come out of nowhere.
            And I usually do reply to people who make statements that seem silly and unsubstantiated to me, and on this blog, those happen to be about the PS4 too sometimes, hah. But my replies aren’t exclusive to PS4 comments, no worries. :)

  2. Lol, smh at Sony , they need to go make some playable games, i swear i got a ps4 and i think i only used it once since last year, fucking games sucks ass….

    1. -Resident Evil HD Remaster
      -Saints Row: Gat out of Hell
      -Saints Row 4: Re-Elected
      -Grim Fandango Remastered
      -Dying Light
      -Life Is Strange
      -Game of Thrones
      -Evolve
      -Dragon Ball Xenoverse
      -Resident Evil Revelations 2
      -Dynasty Warriors 8
      -Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
      -DMC: Definitive Edition
      -Bladestorm: Nightmare
      -Sniper Elite 3 Ultimate Edition
      -Battlefield 4
      -Battlefield Hardline
      -Final Fantasy Type-0 HD
      -Borderlands: The Handsome Collection
      -Bloodborne
      -Axiom Verge
      -Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin
      -Mortal Kombat X
      -Shovel Knight
      -Project Cars
      -Badland: Game of the year Edition
      -The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
      -Magica 2
      -Ultra Street Fighter IV
      -The Escapists
      -The Elder Scrolls Online
      -Payday 2: Crimewave Edition
      -Batman Arkham Knight
      -Planetside 2
      -God of War 3 Remastered
      -Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture
      -Until Dawn
      -Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
      -Tearaway Unfolded
      -Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection
      -Dragon Quest Heroes
      -Tales of Zestiria
      -Toukiden Kiwami
      -Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
      -Skullgirls 2nd Encore
      -Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
      -Call of Duty Black Ops III
      -Fallout 4
      -Star Wars Battlefront
      -Just Cause 3
      -The Last of Us Remastered
      -Infamous Second Son
      -Grand Theft Auto V
      -Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

      1. To be fair, if you cross out all the PS3 ports and leave only the exclusive games, the list turns out to be very poor.

        1. But why would you cross them? Are they not games people can play on their PS4? If someone owns a console, why would it matter to them if the games he can choose from are available on other platforms as well? Does the fact that a game can be played on multiple platforms make it less fun, or less of a game?
          Poor argument, imo. I personally couldn’t give less of a shit if a game is available on more than just the console of my choice, that won’t make me enjoy the game any less, after all. And a console offering many games that are multiplat doesn’t change anything at all about the broadness of its library. Games from many different developers that all have a different vision about what they want their games to be = variety.

          1. It’s one thing when we’re discussing multiplatform titles, but HD ‘remasters’ and ports are something completely different. If you evaluate a console’s catalog just by how many games can be played on it, then the Wii U has an amazing library. After all, it can play every single Wii game, lots of SNES ones, GBA, DS, NES… See what I mean?

            1. Oh, I wasn’t trying to say that quantity matters most or anything like that. But I do think it’s silly to dismiss multiplats solely for them being multiplats. There are some really good multiplats, just like there are bad ones too. But it’s not the fact of them being multiplats that determines their quality. That’s the point I was trying to make in my previous comment.
              But I do agree that remasters don’t really do much for a console’s library, as they’re games that have been available on other platforms for a long time and aren’t really “new” in that sense (unless they truly make something new out of the game, but that isn’t the standard). Multiplats usually launch simultanously on all platforms, so I just don’t see a problem with those. And a port isn’t always a game that had been accessible on other platforms for a long time already either, so I believe it depends on a couple of factors if a port is an asset worth mentioning to a console’s library.

              So, to put my views on the whole thing short: being a multiplat isn’t what makes a game bad, which also applies to ports, and remasters/remakes aren’t really much of an enrichment to a console’s software library most of the time. :)

          2. I think you didn’t get my point. I’m not saying multiplat games aren’t as good as exclusives, of course not, I like multiplats as much as anyone else, but what makes you buy a PS4 instead of an Xbox, Wii U or PC are the exclusives, not the multiplats.
            Remasters on the other hand, are great for anyone who didn’t buy it originally, but they’re are just filler for people like me who already owns the Uncharted and the Last of Us games.
            And that’s what’s holding me on buying a PS4 (aside from the price and the chances of a slim version), that I own most of the remasters on their original form, and some of the indies/multiplats I prefer them on my PC, and considering this, there’s only about 5 games I’m interested in. This is personal opinion, though.
            I guess the first commenter has many multiplats and that’s why he says there’re no games. Or just trolling, who knows.
            But it’s true that PS4 needs exclusives.
            Anyway, I don’t want to enter into a console war or anything, and don’t get me wrong, I’m not hating the Ps4, just saying it still needs games.
            Have a nice day :)

            1. I see, I see. I definitely agree with you on the exclusives part, mentioned that in another one of my comments above too, actually. They don’t do much for a console’s library simply because they’re not new, and we have the option to play them in their original form before they release in their remastered version.
              However, I don’t really agree that the PS4 doesn’t have exclusives, because as far as I can tell, it does have some pretty good ones, with many more coming this year. Maybe its current exclusives just don’t interest you, which is absolutely okay though.
              I certainly don’t want to start any kind of war either, I was just expressing my view towards the rather popular opinion of multiplats apparently not counting as games somehow. I’m glad you don’t think so though.
              And thanks! I hope you’ll have a great day as well. :)

              1. Am I the only one that bought a PS4 because of JRPGs? Lol. A lot of people seem to argue over exclusives but it doesn’t really matter to me. The PS3 had some great JRPGs and I knew it was going to continue with the PS4 so it as an easy choice for me. Those games offer more content than the usual AAA big budget exclusive you usually see nowadays. I know that Tales of Zestiria, Dragon Quest Heroes, and Toukiden Kiwami are on PC, but I prefer to play those kind of games on the PS4. :)

                1. Nope, I’m with you on that one. I love JRPGs, and just like you, I had a feeling the PS4 would get a lot of them, similar to the PS3. And since I prefer to play my JRPGs on consoles too, that was a huge plus for the PS4 for me as well. :)
                  So yea, depending on the person, it doesn’t come down to exclusives only when choosing which platform to go for.

                2. Jaded Ridley X3 {I'm not whining, you suckers... *cough* ..poor souls! I've just been driven insane by Nintendo failing me one too many times this gen!}

                  Don’t worry. Me, you, & Namie aren’t the only people buying a PS4 for those types of games. I’d think there was something seriously wrong with the world if we were. lol

      2. Fuck you and that list, all i see is remastered games third parties and trash, im talking about games that are actually fun and enjoyable, not a whole bunch of multiplat bullshit, if that’s the case it would be no different me owning a xbone …

        1. Third party trash? Excuse me? Some of the best games last year were from them. If you call games like The Witcher 3, MGSV:TPP, and Dying Light “trash”, then I don’t know what your definition of fun is.

          1. Dying Light…lol. To each their own, but man.. that game was horrible.

            Then again, I didn’t care for the interactive movie Witcher 3 either. Never played MGS so I can’t say. I’m waiting for it to go cheap during a Steam Sale.

            For the record, fun is different for everyone. I hated Witcher 3 because of the huge over abundance of cutscenes that constantly pulled me away from real gameplay, generic/pointless open world that only served as land to traverse, and the god awful combat.

            Just because someone finds something fun doesn’t mean everyone will. I sold my PS4, and I’ll soon sell my Xbone. They have virtually no good exclusives, so I’m better off just using my capable PC and Nintendo products. Unfortunately I’ll have to get another PS4 eventually for mt kingdom hearts needs, but I’m waiting for a price drop. However, I agree with the original poster. There’s a huge lack of quality games on PS4 and Xbone. This generation of consoles has been fucking awful.

          2. Don’t get it confused, I’m not saying Nintendo is better than the other 2 , ijs i find ps4 games very bland and boring they have no life, no fun aspect, no good feeling of accomplishment when playing through them, but that’s MY opinion and no shitty list can change that until i see some good games like back in the good old ps2 days…

        2. Since when does the fact of a game being developed by 3rd-parties and/or being multiplat determine its quality?
          There are some pretty good games on that list, and many of them are different from each other. If you still don’t like any of them, that’s alright, but it’s not necessarily the quality of the games/console that’s to be blamed for that.

        3. Was the “fuck you” really necessary? Anyway…

          Now keep in mind I’m going to make broad statements to a lot of the comments here, cause I don’t feel like writing lengthy dissertations to every ridiculous person here claiming there is nothing good on any other console besides the Wii U.

          First party games aren’t lacking on the PS4. I can easily prove that, I mean that might apply to the Xbox One, because no matter how you go about it, the exclusive list on the Xbox One is very small compared to the PS4 and Wii U. Now the whole remasters thing is stupid as well. Everyone does it, so in that sense, no one can try to act like anyone is better.

          I get really tired of this exclusive nonsense. If you don’t like the games on these systems because they do not appeal to you, that is absolutely fine. But what I don’t like is a lot of you act like no worthwhile exclusives exist on the PS4 and Xbox One just because of your tastes, that is the dumb part. I don’t care how much I might dislike a systems games, I’m not going to go around forcing my way of thinking upon others. And what’s annoying, is some of you just ignore the Wii U, as if it has been pushing out exclusives every month or something. Also, in the same way many of you argue the games on PS4 and Xbox One aren’t even worth mentioning, how the hell can you not say the same exact thing for a lot of the games on the Wii U?

          I don’t even have a Xbox One myself, and it’s a fact it has more upcoming exclusives than the Wii U does this year. Whether or not some of you like any of them doesn’t change that fact. 2016 isn’t even a contest anymore for the Wii U.

          And when you count the amount of exclusives you actually played on the Wii U up until now, cause there is no way anyone here can act like all of these games are of superb quality… The list isn’t anymore impressive than any other. Which is funny to me, cause Nintendo fans are the first to call out Microsoft and Sony on all their “filler” titles, yet look at all the ones Nintendo had on the Wii U, too.

          As far as PC ports go. If the game is only on that console, it’s still exclusive to that console, even if it has a PC version. Point being you won’t be able to play that PC game on any other console, hence the exclusivity of it. I’m not going to crap on the PS4 or Xbox One because they are giving better options to their player base, by also giving them option to play some of these games on PC or vice versa. That was the entire reason they went with x86 architecture, so these games could be ported easily. How you view that part, is up to you, but that’s how I see it.

          Now to prove my point, there is no vast difference in exclusives between the PS4 and Wii U. Especially for the Wii U being out longer, you’d think there would be. You can argue about what you see as quality all day, it won’t change the numbers. And when you mention upcoming exclusives, that is where the Wii U loses to both the PS4 and Xbox One.

          Wii U exclusives – 66

          Affordable Space Adventures
          Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival
          Armillo
          Bayonetta 2
          Blocky Bot
          Blue Moon
          Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
          Cocoto Magic Circus 2
          Cube Life: Island Survival
          Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
          Dr. Luigi
          Family Party: 30 Great Games Obstacle Arcade
          Fast Racing Neo
          Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water
          Game & Wario
          Game Party Champions
          Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem
          Hyrule Warriors
          Just Dance Wii U
          Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
          Legend of Zelda Wii U
          The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
          The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
          Lego City Undercover
          The Letter
          Lost Reavers
          Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games
          Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
          Mario Kart 8
          Mario Party 10
          Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash
          Maze
          NES Remix
          NES Remix 2
          New Super Mario Bros. U
          New Super Luigi U
          Nintendo Land
          Othello
          Pikmin 3
          Pokémon Rumble U
          Pokkén Tournament
          Project Guard
          Pushmo World
          Rabbids Land
          Runbow
          Shut the Box
          Sing Party
          Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
          Spin the Bottle: Bumpie’s Party
          Splatoon
          Star Fox Zero
          The Stonecutter
          Super Mario 3D World
          Super Mario Maker
          Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
          Swords & Soldiers II
          Tank! Tank! Tank!
          UCraft
          Wicked Monsters Blast! HD Plus
          Wii Fit U
          Wii Party U
          Wii Sports Club
          The Wonderful 101
          Xenoblade Chronicles X
          Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
          Yoshi’s Woolly World

          Wii U Exclusives in 2016 and beyond – 6

          The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
          The Legend of Zelda Wii U
          Star Fox Zero
          Pokkén Tournament
          Project Giant Robot
          Project Gaurd

          PS4 exclusives – 52

          Ace Combat 7
          Alienation
          Basement Crawl
          Bloodborne
          Brawl
          Bloodborne
          Detroit: Become Human
          Disgaea 5
          Drawn to Death
          Dreams
          Driveclub
          Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture
          Fat Princess Adventures
          Godzilla
          Gran Turismo 7
          Gran Turismo Sport
          Gravity Rush 2
          Guns Up!
          Helldivers
          Hotshots Golf
          Horizon Zero Dawn
          Hunger
          Infamous Second Son
          Infamous First Light
          Killstrain
          Killzone Shadow Fall
          The King of Fighters XIV
          Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8
          Knack
          The Last of Us Remastered
          The Last Guardian
          MatterFall
          Megadimension Neptunia VII
          N++
          Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
          Nier Automata
          Omega Quintet
          The Order: 1886
          The Playroom
          Ratchet & Clank
          Resogun
          Rime
          Rocketbirds 2: Evolution
          Stories: The Hidden Path
          Tearaway Unfolded
          The Tomorrow Children
          Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection
          Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
          Until Dawn
          Wattam
          What Remains of Edith Finch
          Wild
          Without Memory

          PS4 exclusives in 2016 and beyond – 21

          Horizon: Zero Dawn
          Uncharted 4
          The Last Guardian
          Gran Turismo Sport
          Gravity Rush 2
          The Tomorrow Children
          Drawn To Death
          Dreams
          Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
          Nier Automata
          Dreams
          Street Fighter V
          Firewatch
          What Remains of Edith Finch
          Shadow Of The Beast
          Boundless
          Hellblade
          No Man’s Sky
          Ratchet & Clank
          The Witness
          Paragon

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL2kX3EZKSA

          Xbox One exclusives in 2016 and beyond – 11

          Gears of War 4
          Quantum Break
          Halo Wars 2
          Crackdown 3
          Fable Legends
          ReCore
          Sea of Thieves
          Gigantic
          Cobalt
          Killer Instinct: Season 3
          Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition

      3. Jaded Ridley X3 {I'm not whining, you suckers... *cough* ..poor souls! I've just been driven insane by Nintendo failing me one too many times this gen!}

        I wonder how some of these guys will react to my opinion that some of what the Wii U has to offer is trash…

        Mario Tennis: Bare Bone Ultra Trash

        Animal Crossing: amiibo Bored Game

        Metroid Prime: Trash Force

        Mario & Luigi: Poor Man’s Kiddie Paper Mario

        Legend of Zelda: CD-i Heroes Saving a Stuck Up Princess’s Wardrobe When They could be Saving Hyrule Instead Which is Probably Why Hyrule is in the Shitty Mess It’s in Right Now During the Original Legend of Zelda (it lines up perfectly if it takes place directly after Link Between Worlds but a century or two before Legend of Zelda)

        Did I miss anything?

  3. Based on the wording of the trademark, I think they may have been meaning something about their PlayStation Now game streaming, but too bad that they used too broad of terms, and it encompasses ANY video game streaming from what I see.

  4. You know, this article doesn’t say for sure that Sony is trying to trademark the term, but hey, lets all pretend that that is, WITHOUT A DOUBT, what they are doing….

  5. Nintendo Tetrarch Quadramus-NX

    >>>While the cattle complains about minor inconvieniences within the empire, the other 2 diseases continue with their sickness worldwide>>>

  6. Jaded Ridley X3 {I'm not whining, you suckers... *cough* ..poor souls! I've just been driven insane by Nintendo failing me one too many times this gen!}

    Please tell me this is just one big misunderstanding. Just when you were going so strong, Sony. Oh well! I think I’ll play some Assassin’s Creed Syndicate on my PS4 today instead of Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate! Or maybe I’ll play a bit more of that til I beat all of the stages that become available during Chapter 3, clearing it. After that, then play Syndicate! Once I clear a certain amount of that game, go back to Toukiden Kiwami & play that til I clear Chapter 3, then go back to WO3U & clear all of Chapter 4, then back to Syndicate. Yeah. I’m playing these games to a certain cut off point then jumping to the next one to repeat the process. Since I’ve got so many games I haven’t beaten right now, this is the best way I can give a fair amount of attention to each without clearing one or the other too soon. So many games, so little time.

      1. Jaded Ridley X3 {I'm not whining, you suckers... *cough* ..poor souls! I've just been driven insane by Nintendo failing me one too many times this gen!}

        With Syndicate included, I’ve only played 3 Assassin’s Creed games so far with Assassin’s Creed III & IV being the other two. So unlike those that followed it since the first game, I haven’t gotten my fill of the series yet. Of course, that will change once I get a 3 month subscription of PlayStation Now & play the first 3 Assassin’s Creed games so I can catch up on the story.

          1. Jaded Ridley X3 {I'm not whining, you suckers... *cough* ..poor souls! I've just been driven insane by Nintendo failing me one too many times this gen!}

            Well I’m having fun regardless. And like you said, that’s all that really matters, right?

      2. For me, AC games are either hit or miss. Lots of people hated AC3, but I loved it. Put more than 100 hours in it. I skipped Unity because I didn’t care much for it. But Black Flag is great. Rogue looks alright and Syndicate looks decent. So it’s not all that bad imo.

  7. That sucks, but you know people will just not use the term Let’s Play and use something else. They can use playthrough, gameplay, or (insert youtube name here) plays. People will find a way around it.

  8. The term “Let’s Play” always annoyed me with YouTube videos. Those words make it sound as if a person is only going to play a game for a little while, then stop. In my opinion, the correct word for a video (if it’s a video where you’re playing through an entire game) is “Playthrough. That word explains it better. I was an idiot in the past. I used to call my playthrough videos “Reviews”. Until I stopped and thought about what each word meant.

    Even “Walkthrough” is a better term than
    Let’s Play”, if a person is playing all the way through a game. But walkthrough sounds like a word for helping somebody else out as they play THEY’RE game. So Playthrough is my personal word of choice. It’s the most appropriate.

  9. Sony, your drunk. Also you can’t trademark lets plays on games that are say Microsoft or Nintendo’s games lol. Did you not see what Nintendo’s attempts to control lets plays did? That’s how you castrate your fans, they will say fuck you and ditch you lol.

  10. First of all, wouldn’t this be Sony news?

    Secondly, where is everyone defending the law now? As dumb as this may be, it is completely within the confines of the law for big companies to do this kind of stuff. Now that it is Sony, some of you see how dumb the law can be? Same people who were earlier defending Nintendo’s abuse of the law with that party… Whatever, I guess it is better late than never…

    I also think this would be a better source than an uploaded image. http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:lkexj0.2.2

    Although, it may expire. Forcing you to search for the trademark filing again. If anyone is wondering, you search the TESS section for Let’s Play. http://www.uspto.gov/trademark

  11. Pingback: More Details On Potential Sony ‘Let’s Play’ Trademark – My Nintendo News

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