Update: Futuremark responds to “Pwnage” trademark controversy on YouGamers, their own video game website. In addition, MTV contacts owners of Pwned.com for their reaction to the ‘Pwnage’ trademark attempt.
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On February 26, 2008, Finnish software development company Futuremark filed to protect the trademark Pwnage in relation to “computer game software and computer game programs enabling users to play games with mobile phones and personal digital assistants” and “online computer games provided via network between communications networks and computers”.
Known for its computer benchmarking software, Futuremark recently announced that it would become a video game developer as well. In late-January 2008, GameDaily reported that Futuremark Games Studio “has apparently already started development on its first game, but further details surrounding genre or platform(s) were not provided.” Mork wonders if “Pwnage” will be the name of Futuremark’s first video game, or if it will be a slogan attached to their overall gaming effort.
Mork wonders if Futuremark filing to trademark “pwnage” is similar to Fark trying to trademark “not safe for work”. “Pwn” and the words derived from it are widely-used and have gone beyond the gaming and hacker communities into pop-culture territory. Securing and protecting a word like this would be at worst, impossible, and an uphill battle at best.
But what does Mprk know.
