Google’s strive to trademark the word 'Glass' has been smashed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The search giant, which already has the trademark for 'Google Glass', attempted to register the single word 'Glass', displayed in the same futuristic font which is used in its marketing, as the trademark for their wearable technology. But the trademark office raised a couple of objections.
Firstly, the agency said that trademarking the term 'Glass' could lead to a risk of consumer confusion, as it would be too similar to the other existing or pending trademark applications that contain the word 'Glass'.
Secondly, the agency argued that the term 'Glass' can’t be trademarked under federal law because it is "merely descriptive", and the law says that you can't trademark a word that describes a product, even if it has a distinctive font.
Google disagreed and defended their stand. In response, the company's trademark lawyers wrote back a 1,928 paged letter to the agency arguing that consumers won't be confused by the term 'Glass' because of its popularity.
They also disagreed on the second point stating that “the frame and display components of the Glass device do not consist of glass at all,” but are made from titanium and plastic.
Apart from the trademark agency, Border Stylo, LLC, a company that develops a browser extension called “Write on Glass”, is also opposing the search giant's trademark application.
