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Lawyer Attempts To Trademark Bitcoin

Posted by samzenpus on from the said-it-first dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A NY based lawyer has submitted an application to the US Patent and Trademark Office claiming first use of the term bitcoin on June 22nd, 2011. The evidence of first use in the form of a letter detailing his wife's offer to sell "bitcoin" for $17.50 on June 23rd. A pdf extolling the virtues of bitcoin has also been uploaded to his law firms webpage."

7 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Punish Trolls by jarich · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This beautifully illustrates why there should be some punishment for this type of behavior. He's obviously ignoring all prior art and forcing an already overloaded system to deal with this crap. Fine him.

    --
    Agile Artisans
    1. Re:Punish Trolls by pacergh · · Score: 5, Informative

      While the term 'prior art' is a patent term, there is something directly similar called prior use. So the argument is still valid, even if the terminology is not legally exact.

    2. Re:Punish Trolls by v1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Fine him? he's a lawyer. disbar him. He's obviously unfit to be legal council.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    3. Re:Punish Trolls by SplicerNYC · · Score: 4

      Loss of license to practice law for life might be a way to dissuade the next person.

  2. I hereby move to trademark the word "dollar" by youn · · Score: 5, Funny

    my first documented use of the word dollar being today when I said enthusiastically, "oh a dollar sign... how cool would that be if every one paid me a dollar every time they used the word dollar" ;)

    --
    Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that :p
    1. Re:I hereby move to trademark the word "dollar" by gilleain · · Score: 4, Funny

      my first documented use of the word dollar being today when I said enthusiastically, "oh a dollar sign... how cool would that be if every one paid me a dollar every time they used the word dollar" ;)

      Even better, every time they pay you, ask them "How much was that again?..." and they would reply "Oh, just a dollar..dammit!". You would be raking it in, so much so that you would have to construct some sort of special multi-rake machine to get it all.

  3. Publicity Stunt by brainzach · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Instead of defending the trademark, the lawyer is promoting the virtues of Bitcoin. He is probably just trying to generate publicity to pump up the price of Bitcoins that his wife is selling. I doubt the lawyer is stupid enough to think he can be successful trademark Bitcoin.