Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Word Futures

 Patent entire families of words, then sell them to businesses who want to use the names for products
  (+3, -18)(+3, -18)(+3, -18)
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You know how people buy domain names, like www,jesus.com, and then sell them for large smounts of scratch? Would it be possible to patent/copyright entire families of invented words and acronyms, and then sell/lease them to businesses who want to use them to name their products? As in, I could think of every possible name for an electric car, playing on the word "Spark": UrbSpark, SparKar, SparKurrent, or the word "Electro" (CarLectro, ElectroZoom, etc). Then, when someone invents an electric car, I've already thought of every possible name and copyrighted it, so the inventors of the car have to pay me to have an appealing marketable name for their vehicle.
—naveline, Jul 12 2000


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       You can't patent a word.   

       You can't copyright a word.   

       Words can only be *trademarked*. Patents, copyright and trademarks are all very different things, and people that would make suggestions based on them would be advised to learn what they are.   

       Depending on jurisdiction, you're only allowed to trademark words you're actively using to describe your product or service and words that are not in general use otherwise. If someone else starts using a word you have trademarked, the onus is on you to stop them (generally via lawsuit), otherwise you lose the mark.   

       In short, speculative trademarking doesn't work. If it did, people would have started doing it a long time ago.
—egnor, Jul 12 2000
   

       Damn! I'm just looking for a reason to quit my job and stay home making up fun word melds. ElectroSkank! CyberBlob!
—naveline, Jul 15 2000
   

       just register the url.
—screamingfist, Dec 24 2000
   

       Faith Pxpcxrn is a visionary. She correctly predicted the demand for "foodaceuticals," a word she coined in 1990 to capture the benefits-added craze seen in supermarket products today (the Being Alive™ Trend), and four-wheel drives (Fantasy Adventure™), as well as the spiritual tenor of the millennium (Anchoring™). She was the first to anticipate the explosive growth in home delivery, home businesses and home shopping (Cocooning™).   

       Her hour-long seminar, which focuses on how future Trends are affecting consumer lifestyles and purchasing behavior, has been presented to thousands of audiences across the globe.   

       Through her future-focused marketing consultancy, Faith Pxpcxrn’s BrainRxsxrve, Ms. Pxpcxrn works with clients, applying her insights on cultural and business Trends, to reposition their company or a brand, define areas of new business opportunity and develop new products. Documented as having a 95% accuracy rate, Ms. Pxpcxrn and BrainRxsxrve provide the inspiration and foresight needed to predict evolving future consumer markets.
—thecolor12, Dec 02 2004
   

       And... how do you pronounce that? O.o   

       Uh... what is it with everyone here having bad spelling? It's like a jinx in this topic. And who the frick is Faith Pxpcxrn?! I've never heard of her!
—EvilPickels, Dec 02 2004
   

       I think this idea was baked in Survivor : A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk. In it, the protagonist’s manager, a marketing/PR guy works for a company that makes money by pre-trademarking every possible name for pharmaceutical drugs. The mockups are delicious m&m's though.
—JeremiahBritt, Dec 02 2004
   

       I'd just add a '5000' or '2000' on the end of the particular word that I want for a trade-name and then you're out of the copyright.
—quantum_flux, Dec 05 2007
   

       I heard that someone trademarked 21st Century Fox and wanted a crazy sum of money to sell it. That's why it's Fox Searchlight. I have no evidence to back this up though so it may be a myth.
—marklar, Dec 05 2007
   

       Nowadays, Jesus.com is owned by Ghandi.net.   

       Jxsus.com is available though, if anyone wants it.
—mylodon, Nov 17 2017
   

       So is pxpcxrn.com   

       I feel like there's an untapped area for domxin nxmes out there. I just need some contxnt.
—mylodon, Nov 17 2017
   

       " Oh [naveline], why can't you be true ?   

       You're going back to doing that thing that you used to do .... "
—normzone, Nov 18 2017
   

       A group, here in NZ, is campaigning for the the control and use of a word. Don't they know you can't tell the rest of the population, especially the young, how to say something. Pointless really.   

       It would be truly sad to have control over what is said. What a loss of surprise and puzzlement.
—wjt, Nov 18 2017
   


 

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