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EU Court Blocks Brazilian Company From Trademarking Sound Of a Ringing Phone (arstechnica.co.uk)

Posted by msmash on from the nope-can't-do-that dept.

The standard ringing from an alarm clock or a telephone is too boring and banal to be registered as a trademark within the EU, a top court has ruled. The judgment was handed down by the EU General Court (EGC), blocking a Brazilian company that had tried to claim ownership of the sound, Ars Technica reports. From its story: In 2014, the Brazilian mass media company Grupo Globo applied to register the globally familiar "ring-ring" sound "for the dissemination of information electronically, orally, or by means of television" -- guarding its use on all electronic devices and in media representations. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) at the time refused to register the jingle on the grounds that it had "no distinctive character," and that it was "a banal and commonplace ringtone which would generally go unnoticed and would not be remembered by the consumer." Globo -- the biggest media company in Latin America -- appealed EUIPO's decision at the EU General Court, which has today ruled that the sound is indeed too boring to register.

16 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. Reading too much /. by Minupla · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sounds like someone read the comments on here where people are forever saying they just patented and you owe them money, and said "Hey! Good idea!"

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    1. Re:Reading too much /. by shortscruffydave · · Score: 2

      I hereby patent everything. Give me all your money.

      I've already patented patents. You give me all of your money

    2. Re:Reading too much /. by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Funny

      I hereby patent everything. Give me all your money.

      I've already patented patents. You give me all of your money

      I've patented money, give me all your .... umm

    3. Re: Reading too much /. by parkinglot777 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Their mistake was trying to trademark it in the EU. They should have done it here in the states; you can trademark just about anything here. Hell, there's a company that successfully claims ownership of the word "monster", a very common word that they claim trademark infringement on everything and anything from minigolf to movies.

      Then you have no idea of differences between trademark, copyright, and patents... You can't trademark sound or lyric because they belong to copyright category. Also, protections are different too. If you really want to understand what they are, I suggested you to visit USPTO Trademark page, so that you wouldn't spread your misunderstanding/misinformation to others.

      PS: yes, you can trademark the word "monster" but it has to be tied to certain conditions.

    4. Re:Reading too much /. by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Why sue myself?

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      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. However boring and banal it is by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's still more interesting than the latest Apple Conference

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    Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  3. It's not theirs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Boring, Banal, and NOT THEIRS TO TRADEMARK.

    It reminds me of the Kraftwerk claim, someone used a repeated snare drum copied from one of their tracks, and they persued him for 19 years for copyright infringement. Eventually their claim was thrown out.

    They are a synthesizer band, they didn't make that drum sound, their synth did, if anyone owns that sound it would be Roland or Yamaha, not Kraftwerk. Yet they pursued and pursued it, all the way up through appeals court till they were finally told to f** off.

    Here the same, a company thought it could trademark two shrill 'G' tones if only they tried and tried long enough to wear down the system, (a la 'one click' ordering).

    1. Re:It's not theirs by JonnyCalcutta · · Score: 2

      I would but I don't think its the real Anonymous Coward.

  4. Too boring to register by PPH · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, there goes the entirety of Justin Bieber's work.

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    Have gnu, will travel.
  5. the TPPA will over ride this by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    the TPPA will over ride this

  6. Re:I patent using the letter E on networked system by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Scrw you, buddy!

  7. Neener neener by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 2

    Is that copyrighted too? Seriously, though, why did it need to get to the court level? Why didn't the copyright flunkies say, "Sorry, prior art. Tough noogies."?

    1. Re:Neener neener by gsslay · · Score: 2

      Never fails on Slashdot. People simply do not understand trademark is not just another word for copyright, yet are happy to flaunt their total lack of understanding.

  8. Not a ringing phone sound by Trikoloko · · Score: 5, Informative

    Brazilian here. This is what they tried to trademark (The last sound in the video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    In Brazil, This is known as the "plim-plim". They have been using the sound for many (30+) years. I don't see how this can be compared to the sound of a ringing phone.

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    My cellphone ringtone is a ring tone.
  9. Re:Good by JonnyCalcutta · · Score: 2

    Fair point. At least this time common sense prevailed.

    The concepts you talk about are really why I'm no fan of conservatives (the UK variety, who I have more experience of) - to me they are just saying that civilisation peaked with feudalism and being a rentier is the loftiest of goals.

  10. Re:Brazilians know that sound by dafradu · · Score: 2

    Some other simple sounds that appear to have a trademark: Intel pentium sound, espn 6 notes, NBC chimes