Google successfully submitted an application for a trademark on the term 'Google Glass' last year. Now it is seeking to go one step further - to trademark the word 'Glass'. However the U.S. trademark office has a couple of reasonable objections to this application, reports the Wall Street Journal Digits Blog.
The WSJ has a copy of a letter written to Google's management from the USTO, concerning the trademarking of 'Glass', which raises objections based upon:
- There are other computer orientated trademarks which contain the word glass,
- It's a descriptive word which, if judged to be a generic/commodity term, can't get trademark protection under federal law.
Apparently Google has already appealed to the U.S. trademark office objections with a 1,928 page letter to try and push the trademark through. Google's main arguments for its case are that people won't get confused about 'Glass' belonging to Google due to the huge amount of media coverage (1,900 pages of that letter mentioned previously are said to be press clippings about Google Glass). Also it says that 'Glass' isn't descriptive in this case, as Google Glass is also made out of titanium and plastic.
Do HEXUS readers think the U.S. trademark office should stick to its guns?
Cambodia's Angkor Wat added to Street View
Here's a story to remind people of some of the great achievements of Google, as an antidote to the depressing legal pushing and posturing above. The Google Maps Blog recently detailed the adding of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia, to Google's extensive Street View imagery.
Google has added over 100 of the historic temple sights that make up Angkor Wat to its Street View resource. The blog says that Google used a crafty combination of cars, trekkers and tripods to photograph the temples inside and out, as they stand today. This has provided virtual tourists and sight seers with 90,000 new panoramic views to enjoy. Why not go and have a wander this Friday afternoon?
