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cyber punk wallpaper

I have been known to blow things out of proportion on occasion.  For those of you who know me, you can attest to this.  But as I read an article today, I started to wonder if I, the over reactor is under reacting to something?  Or do I just not get what all the fuss is about?  According to Gizmodo, the makers of The Witchers franchise started a process for trademarking the word “cyberpunk”.  Fans seemed to lose their cool with this one, and accused CD Projekt Red of doing this for nefarious reasons.  Umm… what claim do they have to back that up?  There are trademark rules, and anyone can attempt to trade mark a word or phrase, so long as it falls into those rules.  Further, who cares?  I mean, does the trade marking of a word impact the fans that much?

I guess maybe the first issue, for me, is that I legitimately don’t support anything with such passion.  So don’t take my comments as negative.  I am simply trying to understand this.  Also, I’ve been trying to be less reactive to situations.  As I said, I have a tendency to blow things out of proportion.  So I totally get where the fans are coming from, but at the same time, we need to look at it from the big picture. The article goes on to further say that you can’t trademark the word “cyberpunk” because it would be like trademarking “romantic comedy”.  Indicating that you’re not trademarking a word, but rather a genre.  And that likely isn’t allowed.

To put this into perspective, lets look at some phrases that have been trademarked.  Paris Hilton once made the phrase “that’s hot” extremely popular.  And yes, it’s trademarked.  So does that mean I can’t use that phrase in my posts?  No, but what it does mean is that I can’t use Paris’ name or likeness and the phrase “that’s hot” to sell a product that she doesn’t stand behind.  Further the term “lets get ready to rumble” used at the beginning of a boxing match has been trademarked.  Again, does that mean someone can’t use that?  No.  But there are stipulations around what you can and can’t do with that phrase.

cd projekt red twitter statement

So are the fans getting worked up about nothing?  Perhaps.  All the company is doing is protecting its brand.  I’m not saying I agree with the trademark rules and regulations.  But as a stickler of the rules, I think that they need to be considered.  Even if you don’t agree with them.  Unfortunately I see this in black and white terms.  The company also explains that you can use the word Cyberpunk, but just not in any context that could be associated with the game or franchise.  The company can be quoted as saying:

“If someone names their game: ‘John Smith: Adventures Set in a Cyberpunk Dystopian Society’ or ‘20 Short Video Games Set in Cyberpunk Worlds,’ none of them should be treated as an infringement of our rights,”.

While I think fans have every right to be outraged by this, I also think that they are over reacting to this.  Simply put, the company is able to do whatever they want – rightly or wrongly.  It’s not my job to vilify them for attempting to protect their brand.  There may be other issues out there, but in my opinion, this is simply a company taking steps to ensure nothing nefarious happens to them as a result of sloppy due diligence.

 

By Staff Writer

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