Trademark Dispute Filed Against Oculus Rift

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It's pretty damn sad that, even with an oddball name like Oculus Rift, you are still in danger of having some jackass file a trademark dispute against you.

The 3D goggles are being taken to court by a company you’ve never heard of called Oculu, for “false designation of origin, trademark dilution and unfair competition”. So what 3D virtual reality hardware do Oculu make? Oh, wait, hang on – they appear to be a business-oriented video streaming service.
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He needs to sue the ancient Romans since oculus is Latin for eye.
 
Probably not about money. As it's a VR headset maker without a retail product, they're probably working with empty coffers and a bunch of debt. Blood from a pear. Which means its legitimate legal action taken to protect an existing trade identity. Inaction, after all, makes it a lot harder to pursue litigation for infringing trademark theft.
 
It's hard to say with this.

It seems to me that it's about money. I really very much doubt that the people behind the Oculus rift went out of their way to use a similar name to them, like they claim. That is what makes me think it's about money. It's like trying to make it seem worst so they can get more out of it.

Who the hell makes a company with a name like Oculu? I don't know if they contacted the Rift team prior to the lawsuit. Which really seems like the best thing to do with these kind of stupid things. Then the idea that they were trying to say that the Oculus Rift was for online video streaming.

It's hard to say that they aren't aiming for money. If anything, I think it could be a publicity stunt, of sorts, to get their name out there because their service is crap.
 
Wouldn't surprise me to learn they never expected to win at all... that their sole motivation for going into this is the free advertising they're getting. I'd never heard of them before a few minutes ago... I have now.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Probably not about money. As it's a VR headset maker without a retail product, they're probably working with empty coffers and a bunch of debt. Blood from a pear. Which means its legitimate legal action taken to protect an existing trade identity. Inaction, after all, makes it a lot harder to pursue litigation for infringing trademark theft.
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Oculus recently received $75 million in well-publicized venture capital. These "Oculu" jokers want a piece of it.
 
Cobalt35 said:
Wouldn't surprise me to learn they never expected to win at all... that their sole motivation for going into this is the free advertising they're getting. I'd never heard of them before a few minutes ago... I have now.
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That'd be a perfectly reasonable idea if the Rift was a household name or even remotely well known outside a very small number of tech related businesses. It's as much a non-entity as the people suing them so they're really unlikely to gain any actual attention from the few thousand glances the Rift's limited base of interested fans give them.
 
jfreund said:
Oculus recently received $75 million in well-publicized venture capital. These "Oculu" jokers want a piece of it.
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That's a very small sum which would have been soaked up by second generation development costs. It sounds big to one person, but it goes fast when a company is burning it up to make something and doesn't even have income from sales. That was probably enough to keep the company afloat for a little while longer on the off chance their product appears in retail channels at some point in the near future.
 
Yep, this is simply about money. Hopefully, the courts recognize this and FINE the shit out Oculu for suing.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Probably not about money. As it's a VR headset maker without a retail product, they're probably working with empty coffers and a bunch of debt. Blood from a pear. Which means its legitimate legal action taken to protect an existing trade identity. Inaction, after all, makes it a lot harder to pursue litigation for infringing trademark theft.
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They want to try and "settle" for royalties so they can get a dollar from every oculus rift sold or something.
 
Oculu kind of has that H sound to it, where someone could actually confuse what you're saying with streaming shows on Hulu in a conversation. Maybe Hulu should sue them out of existence.
 
It is 100% about money. There isn't even a competition between both companies as they are in different market selling completely different stuff.
 
I have an invention called the Ocular Sift; it's a baking sifter that attaches to your eye FOR MAXIMAL X-TREME BAKING FOODIE HIPSTERS TO THE MAX. I will be filing a lawsuit shortly. Thank you for letting me know about all that venture capital money they got.
 
I think Blizzard is the only company that could even remotely get close. They have an area in World of Warcraft called The Oculus that deals with time rifts. But even then, none of those terms are trademarked and it's perfectly ok to borrow names as long as the distinction between companies is apparent.
 
I'm leaning towards publicity-whoring rather than gold-digging. As has been said, Oculus Rift may have pretty lean coffers with a product not-yet-and-may-never-be-at retail. Seems more likely that they've seen Oculus Rift splashed about in articles and webpages lately, and hope to drum up some free publicity with a quick suit they have no expectation of winning.

Ahh, modern business practices. . . :rolleyes:

-Tuthmose
 
This is about as stupid as Candy Crush Saga trademark owners suing and threatening other games using the words "candy" and "saga" in the names of their games.

Absolutely stupid.
 
Serpent said:
Like elder scrolls on scrolls?

That did happen.
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That too.

Common words and names need to have no protection under trademark laws.

If someone uses a common word like "direct" in their name, a company like Microsoft with DirectX or TigerDirect shouldn't sue someone that wants to use something like "Direct Delivery Express" in their business and branding.

Or, the word "cake" or even "candy". The same with "scrolls".

It's ridiculous how this is.
 
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