Nvidia trying to trademark..... numbers?

[justpoet]

They shouldn't get this trademark request.  This is trying to trademark a generic number (xyz80), that has no meaning, and is already in use in multiple places.  Even if they managed to get the trademark, AMD would be on completely even ground as they've already been using the same standard way back through the line with 280, 380, 480, 580, etc…so there's already precedence of them having the same mind space of xyz80 naming schemes and being able to invalidate and throw out the trademark…kinda like when Windows tried to trademark Windows and go after Apple for calling windows in the UI MS's trademark.  Thankfully, the patent office deemed it too generic.

[Jito463]

While I'm not really fond of these type of marketing moves AMD has been making, I am completely opposed to Nvidia trying to trademark a number.  I liken it to the whole "Candy Crush Saga" incident, where King tried to sue "Banner Saga" creator Stoic over the word 'Saga'.  Trademarks like this do absolutely nothing but restrict creativity.

[justpoet]

Oh, and…AMD should just win the troll race and call them the OVER 9000 series!

[NunoLava1998]

5 hours ago, leadeater said:

AMD Iris Plus UHD 950 Ti

Iris Plus is copyrighted; UHD is not and Ti is not.

So, yes, AMD could name their new Navi graphics card 'AMD Iris UHD 950 Ti', or pretend to name it that as a joke

[Princess Luna]

6 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

AMD following Nvidia's naming scheme is even worse, I'd rather they follow their current one and use 600 series even if Nvidia didnt do this

nVidia only done it because AMD went retarded stealing naming schemes, if I was nVidia and Intel I'd just name it same number and **** it, so we get a RX 3080 and a RTX 3080, and Intel making the z470 / x399 chipsets so this industry is even funnier

[NAP51DMustang]

6 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

Amd did the same with their chipsets and cpus to copy intel. At least intel did not file for a trademark because they were not afraid of amd. Nvidia needs to grow a pair.

Except that time when Intel did sue AMD in 1990ish over names. And lost

[Bouzoo]

2 hours ago, Mr Prince said:

If seen a company have a patent the color red soles before so it would't surprise me if they succeed

Deutsche Telekom patented the color Magents back in 2000. Even worse, afaik they patented 6 shades.

[Bouzoo]

4 hours ago, samcool55 said:

Also why the new one is the Y, makes it S3XY.

Oh, right. I forgot Elon was 12. 

[porina]

1 hour ago, justpoet said:

They shouldn't get this trademark request.  This is trying to trademark a generic number (xyz80), that has no meaning, and is already in use in multiple places.  Even if they managed to get the trademark, AMD would be on completely even ground as they've already been using the same standard way back through the line with 280, 380, 480, 580, etc…so there's already precedence of them having the same mind space of xyz80 naming schemes and being able to invalidate and throw out the trademark…kinda like when Windows tried to trademark Windows and go after Apple for calling windows in the UI MS's trademark.  Thankfully, the patent office deemed it too generic.

I missed the detail that they are seeking a word mark for 3080, 4080, 5080... IANAL and all that, but this is on more questionable ground than if they had attempted to gain a mark for RTX 2080, RTX 3080 etc. then go after AMD for similarities if they later went for RX 3080 for example.

 

Based on the number sequence, I'd have to give the edge to nvidia, purely for it being more logical in the sequence. We had 1080, currently have 2080, so 3080 would be a natural next step. For AMD, 280, 380, 480, 580, 3080. F that.

[Tech Enthusiast]

Id love a big fat lawsuit against AMD.

 

This "I take your naming scheme and add a 100 or 1000" thing is annoying and most certainly aimed at uninformed customers.

"Hey 3080 is higher, so it must be better than a 2080!". 

 

You guys know the majority of people will fall for this. And that is why AMD does it. And I really hope this crap backfires.

[Stefan Payne]

4 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

I dont see why not? They are trying to protect their naming of their graphics card. I would wager they have a trademark for rtx and gtx so I dont see why they could have one for the other parts if the name in their graphics cards. This is a very simple matter. Nvidia wants to protect against the competition from naming their stuff similar to theirs. That is the entire point of trademarks existing. I think people are being ridiculous if they think its not ok to trademark the names of your product. This can really only help the consumer because it should reduce confusion. 

There is a Problem.

Remember 3850, 3650, 3450.

or "HD Graphics" 3000??

V3100, V3200, V3300, V3350, V3400 (2005)

Or in 2008: V3700, 3750, 3800.

M3100,

WX3200

 

3120A

Intense 3D Pro 3400 and 3600

 

Voodoo 3000

 

So that Tratemark seems like bullshit because "Prior Art"...

And jthe angry child doin something to hinder the Competition...

 

Seems like the Trade Commisions need to look into nVidia for anti competitive behavior...

[justpoet]

All they have to do is use numbers for other things as versions that they can randomly decide to increment, and people will simply shorten the name for them, without a lawsuit.

 

AMD Radeon Xtreme series 30, performance level 80.  (numbers made up as examples) Every reviewer and other company and even the SKU would immediately shorten to RX3080.  So, even if nVidia had the trademark, this is stupid and meaningless and wouldn't be enforceable in a case like that either.

[Anomnomnomaly]

7 hours ago, Spotty said:

If Burger King released the "Bigger Mac" burger don't you think McDonalds would take action? The "Happier Meal"?
What if Kia released a sports sedan called the M3?
 

 

7 hours ago, CTR640 said:

Or they wanna have a own weird one of a kind meal, they could make one with: Snap my Stomach Bigtime Burger.

 

And lol at nCrydia trademarking numbers. It's like they got bullied.

 

McDonalds let the trade mark lapse for Big Mac last year... and then lost a battle in the EU regarding other brands using the name to troll them.

 

But legal precedent in the tech industry over 'ownership' of numbers was made more than 20yrs ago... When Intel wanted to trademark '586' and got turned down... Thus Pentium was born because trademarking words is a lot less confusing.

 

If AMD want to use that numbering scheme... why not. It's not caused confusion in the CPU and MB markets... In fact it makes things simpler. What's better an i3/5/7/9 or an R3/5/7  with 4/6/8 cores and so forth.  in fact Intels numbering scheme is far MORE confusing over which ones have HT and which don't.  AMD took the idea and simplified it for consumers.

 

The only people complaining are the companies and the fanbois.

 

 

[Stefan Payne]

For the 3060 this might be in the way as well:

https://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich/OffersOfProduct/6230548_-optiplex-3060-r04k7-dell.html

 

...and for 3080, there is this:

https://support.hp.com/vn-en/document/c01924540

So in theory, couldn't HP sue nVidia for using something they did in the past??

 

Or what about the Diamond Stealth 3D 3000??

 

And there is also this company:

http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/~comp3080/2011/

 

...and an old GPU called 3088...
http://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/cards/item/411-tamarack-td3088a2

[porina]

@Stefan Payne Trademarks don't last forever, and lapse if they're not kept in active use. So ancient products with a similar name are unlikely to pose a problem. Also the area to which the mark applies is taken into consideration. A PC with a similar number might be enough of a reason to deny the application as they are in the same general area, if the PCs are still actively marketed.

[MageTank]

10 hours ago, leadeater said:

AMD Iris Plus UHD 950 Ti X Max-Q

Fixed it for ya.

[Rune]

AMD is getting too cocky for their own good.

[Sakkura]

10 hours ago, Spotty said:

You can definitely protect product names that use numbers, not just company/brand names. They'd have a hard time arguing if a completely unrelated product tried using those product names, like the Sunbeam 911 Toaster would probably be fine (as long as they don't have a picture of a sports car or Porsche badge printed on it that might mislead customers in to thinking it was an officially licensed Porsche 911 product)...
However, if a direct competitor used that product name? The BMW 911 sports car? The Chevrolet F-150 Pick Up truck? They would definitely have grounds to take them to court over using the name, even if the product name is just a series of letters or numbers.

It really comes down to arguing how recognisable that name is to the product company, and whether or not it would be misleading to consumers or would potentially do damage to the company if another company used that branding (either direct financial loss or reputation damage through things such as an inferior product using the same name). Doesn't matter whether the name is a word, letters, or a series of numbers.

It definitely matters whether it's a number or a word. That's why the trademark application for 586 was rejected, but the application for Pentium was approved.

 

Nvidia would have a hard time getting past that famous precedent.

[ARikozuM]

OH... Muh sensibilities... 

 

Should I buy the i7-2600 with the X99 board or the R7-2600 with the X199 board? 

 

Oh no. What'll we do... 

 

Spoiler

SARCASM, WHO WANTS SOME?

 

 

[Totallycasual]

I honestly don't blame them, you spend years building up a name and number set that has brand recognition and some other asshole tries to jump in on it so they can muddy the marketing waters, dick move by AMD. 

[Spotty]

16 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

It definitely matters whether it's a number or a word. That's why the trademark application for 586 was rejected, but the application for Pentium was approved.

 

Nvidia would have a hard time getting past that famous precedent.

 

See: https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1066805-nvidia-trying-to-trademark-numbers/?do=findComment&comment=12595150

Nvidia submitted the application in the EU, not America. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) expressly states that it is possible to trade mark numbers. America's USPTO does not. Different trade mark laws so it definitely does not constitute a precedent that would apply in this situation. If Nvidia submitted their application to the USPTO, then maybe.

 

Intel lost the legal case surrounding 386 not because it was a number, but because the courts deemed that the number was too generic (references a wildly used industry term with the "x86" instruction set and the 386 name was considered too similar to that industry term. "386" itself was deemed too generic, not distinctive enough). Under trade mark laws you cannot trade mark generic terms. So you can't trade mark generic industry terms such as "7nm", "64-bit", "2048bit" or "750w". What you are trade marking also has to be distinctive enough that it is unique to your brand and that it distinguishes your product from others. The US courts decided that "386" was too generic and not distinctive enough to meet the criteria for the trade mark.

 

The application for the 586 name in America was not rejected. Intel withdrew its application for the trade mark. You can look up the trade mark and it shows the status as "Abandoned" (by Intel).

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4809:tu7wh6.3.4

 

They withdrew it because the name they decided to go with, "Pentium", was more distinctive, not a generic term, and as such they would have a stronger case protecting it. The application for "Pentium" was filed prior to Intel abandoning the application for "586". http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4801:x2awtq.3.33

There's a lot more to it than just "It's a number so it can't be trade marked". Numbers can be trade marked, providing they still meet the other criteria for trade mark eligibility.

For example: 737 and 747 are trade marked by Boeing. 911 is trade marked by Porsche. They're just 3 digit numbers like "386", however they are considered more distinctive to the product and are not similar to generic industry terms ("x86").

 

Whether or not Nvidia will be awarded the trade mark for the 3080, 4080, 5080 in the EU is yet to be seen. There's a very good possibility that they're not distinctive enough so likely won't meet the other criteria set out for eligibility. There's also the possibility that if AMD really wanted to use the RX 3080 naming scheme they would be able to oppose the pending application for the trade mark and dispute it before it's awarded.

 IANAL

 

[mr moose]

5 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

Amd should be bitching on how Nvidia named the 7xxx,8xxx and 9xxx card

There were definitely trying to copy there 3 frist gen radeon cards

Didn't nvidia release the 7000 series and 8000 like 5+ years earlier than AMD?

 

EDIT: fixed typo

[leadeater]

2 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Didn't nvidia release the 7900 series and 8800 like 5+ years earlier than AMD?

They both have product naming using that format going back 2001/2002, ATI 2001 and Nvidia 2002.

[mr moose]

3 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

No. Not the HD 7 and 8. The original Radeon cards. But technically that was ATI and not amd.

 

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

They both have product naming using that format going back 2001/2002, ATI 2001 and Nvidia 2002.

 

If I'm honest. I probably knew that, but spent too much time wanking over 3dfx to care.

[Bouzoo]

7 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

Should I buy the i7-2600 with the X99 board or the R7-2600 with the X199 board? 

Technically, you can't buy the 2nd one since it's a non-existing product. I am a problem solver. You're welcome.