Trademark applicant ‘targeting’ Twitter and Snapchat draws Trademark King comparison

A US company has filed more than 50 trademark applications apparently targeting brands including Snapchat and Twitter, leading to comparisons with serial trademark filer the Trademark King.

47/ 72, based in Los Angeles, has applied for trademarks including ‘Oh Snap! Chat’ and ‘Periscope’.

Stephen Coates, associate director for trademarks at Twitter, which owns the Periscope streaming service, told WIPR that 47 / 72’s applications cover well-known brands “or terms that are confusingly similar to famous brands”.

Coates said the applications reminded him of the Trademark King, an Indiana-based company which spent “more than $50,000 on filing fees” in 2014 and applied for marks including ‘Twitter.com’, ‘Apple.com’ and ‘Google.com’.

Other marks applied for by 47 / 72 include ‘Prince of Darkness’, ‘Fear the Hijab’ and ‘Haters Gonna Hate’—a line popularised by singer Taylor Swift.

As WIPR reported earlier this week, 47 / 72 also applied for a trademark for the term ‘Make Amerikkka Great Again’, an apparent dig at US presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.

Coates added: “47 / 72’s marks and the goods and services covered are not necessarily identical to the famous brands. This might make it more difficult to prove bad faith.”

Trademark King’s applications appear to have been abandoned in January this year.

When asked whether 47 / 72 was trademark ‘trolling’, Luke Brean, the attorney of record for the applications on the US Patent and Trademark Office’s website, declined to comment.