NVIDIA Files Trademarks for 3080, 4080 and 5080

RealNC

2019-05-26 17:28

Yeah, we had that before already years ago with 386 and 486. Intel couldn't trademark numbers so instead of 586 they went with "Pentium."

#5673280

Eastcoasthandle

2019-05-26 17:41

RealNC:

Yeah, we had that before already years ago with 386 and 486. Intel couldn't trademark numbers so instead of 586 they went with "Pentium."

LOL, unbelievable level of stupid. You can't trademark numbers. Nvidia is that bent on slowing down node shrinks as they don't have any tangible benefit for their own IP's. I have to wonder what they plan on doing once 5nm finally hits. I know, try to trademark 5 and nm. 😱

#5673282

Denial

2019-05-26 17:48

Eastcoasthandle:

LOL, unbelievable level of stupid. You can't trademark numbers. Nvidia is that bent on slowing down node shrinks as they don't have any tangible benefit for their own IP's. I have to wonder what they plan on doing once 5nm finally hits. I know, try to trademark 5 and nm. 😱

You can 100% trademark numbers. Peugeot for example trademarked 901 forcing Porsche to change the 901 to the 911. Whether or not Nvidia will be granted this trademark is a different story.

#5673286

Eastcoasthandle

2019-05-26 17:54

Denial:

You can 100% trademark numbers. Peugeot for example trademarked 901 forcing Porsche to change the 901 to the 911. Whether or not Nvidia will be granted this trademark is a different story.

That is a specious assertion with very little substance. Peugeot claimed mindshare of the "0" used in other markets as well as sold that branding already. Furthermore, it wasn't just the number it was directly associated with Peugeot not just 901. That example is completely different from Nvidia simply trying to prevent AMD from using 3080.

#5673288

Denial

2019-05-26 18:04

Eastcoasthandle:

That is a specious assertion with very little substance. Peugeot claimed mindshare of the "0" used in other markets as well as sold that branding already. Furthermore, it wasn't just the number it was directly associated with Peugeot not just 901. That example is completely different from Nvidia simply trying to prevent AMD from using 3080.

So what you're saying is they trademarked a number? lol http://www.giantpeople.com/242.html You can definitely trademark numbers. So again, whether or not Nvidia will be granted this is another story, but it's possible - especially since they issued the trademark back in January, long before anyone knew what AMD was going to brand it's GPUs.

#5673291

Venix

2019-05-26 18:10

Denial:

You can 100% trademark numbers. Peugeot for example trademarked 901 forcing Porsche to change the 901 to the 911. Whether or not Nvidia will be granted this trademark is a different story.

Peugeot trade mark the 0 there because it was a convenient place to hide the hand crank we are talking about 100+ years back on that one ! On the other hand yeah i can see why they would do that amd lately "trolling" competitors with the naming even if their trademark fail it might be enough to force amd to let this name go and go for 6xx or 7xx naming sceme ....hmm why don't they call the big navi 3870 ? :P will bring out memories when the 3870 was not as fast as 8800gt but pricing wise was very competitive . The only thing i hope this is the line of series the navi brings and not the 2900xt etc etc

#5673293

nevcairiel

2019-05-26 18:27

Eastcoasthandle:

LOL, unbelievable level of stupid. You can't trademark numbers. Nvidia is that bent on slowing down node shrinks as they don't have any tangible benefit for their own IP's. I have to wonder what they plan on doing once 5nm finally hits. I know, try to trademark 5 and nm. 😱

The only stupid thing here is AMD intentionally confusing users to grab a few more sales. There is absolutely no reason to directly invade NVIDIAs numbering scheme, other then shady marketing. You can like or dislike either NVIDIA or AMD all you want, but they have absolutely no logical reason to use 3080 for their graphics marketing, other then trying to ride on NVIDIA popularity. They've had seperate numbering schemes for years, why muddy the waters now by doing such nonsense?

#5673298

cpy2

2019-05-26 18:35

So Bosch MFQ 4080 wil be sad eh?

#5673299

Denial

2019-05-26 18:40

cpy2:

So Bosch MFQ 4080 wil be sad eh?

No because that's not how trademarks on generic terms work.

#5673320

chispy

2019-05-26 19:25

Competition sometimes brings the very bad behaviors on some companies ... On the opposite we costumers benefit from it and brings out our best behaviors 😛

#5673323

Silva

2019-05-26 19:27

Can you actually trademark a number? This is absurd. I understand if you make a product and try to trademark its name, so it never gets confused with anything else or copycats. But actually trying to trademark a number? That could lead to allot of trouble... Just idiotic on my opinion, but I understand their fear.

#5673332

Denial

2019-05-26 19:42

Silva:

Can you actually trademark a number? This is absurd. I understand if you make a product and try to trademark its name, so it never gets confused with anything else or copycats. But actually trying to trademark a number? That could lead to allot of trouble... Just idiotic on my opinion, but I understand their fear.

Why would it lead to a lot of trouble? When you trademark a generic term/word it protects competing companies from using it - it doesn't prevent everyone from using it. Boeing trademarked 747 - its not like no other company can use 747. Apple owns "Apple" - probably one of the most common words in the english language yet there is no problem with other companies like Scholastic for example using the word Apple in their own products. In fact both companies own the trademark for the word "Apple". If Nvidia is granted 3080/4080/5080 (I don't think they will be but it's definitely possible) it's not like it takes those numbers off the table for everyone else. It just prevents companies selling similar products to Nvidia, in this case AMD, from producing products with those numbers. Which IMO is fine. I've not seen a single good reason why AMD should name their GPUs with the exact same number scheme as Nvidia. The best argument is that it matches their processor branding - in which case let them name it RX 3700 or something. There is no reason for them to use 30X0/40X0 other then to purposely confuse customers.

#5673340

Astyanax

2019-05-26 19:57

You can't trademark 3080. You can trademark RTX 3080 and if RX 3080 is ruled too similar to RTX 3080 it means AMD can't use it.

#5673348

Denial

2019-05-26 20:31

valrond:

As others have said, you can't trademark numbers.

#5673357

alanm

2019-05-26 21:10

Denial:

That's weird: http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=72350803&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch Here is 747 Trademarked by Boeing. I guess 747 isn't a number? http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75439039&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch Here is the number 1 trademarked by Dale Earnhardt. Who knew the Number 1 wasn't a number? http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=74597692&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch - 33 is trademarked http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73788555&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch - 5 is trademarked http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73768165&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch - 501 is trademarked http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75717545&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch - 8675309 is trademarked http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=72172718&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch - 31 is trademarked http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73127572&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch - 57 is trademarked You can definitely trademark numbers.

Not sure how far that applies. Understandable if it were to prevent another plane manufacturer from using 747, but what about non-related products? What if a beer or a car or GPU were to use that number?

#5673360

Denial

2019-05-26 21:24

alanm:

Not sure how far that applies. Understandable if it were to prevent another plane manufacturer from using 747, but what about non-related products? What if a beer or a car or GPU were to use that number?

Denial:

Why would it lead to a lot of trouble? When you trademark a generic term/word it protects competing companies from using it - it doesn't prevent everyone from using it. Boeing trademarked 747 - its not like no other company can use 747. Apple owns "Apple" - probably one of the most common words in the english language yet there is no problem with other companies like Scholastic for example using the word Apple in their own products. In fact both companies own the trademark for the word "Apple". If Nvidia is granted 3080/4080/5080 (I don't think they will be but it's definitely possible) it's not like it takes those numbers off the table for everyone else. It just prevents companies selling similar products to Nvidia, in this case AMD, from producing products with those numbers. Which IMO is fine. I've not seen a single good reason why AMD should name their GPUs with the exact same number scheme as Nvidia. The best argument is that it matches their processor branding - in which case let them name it RX 3700 or something. There is no reason for them to use 30X0/40X0 other then to purposely confuse customers.

#5673367

Gomez Addams

2019-05-26 21:50

Trademarks are given in specific areas of application. AFAIK, they are not blanket in nature, across all possible uses.

#5673379

Dragam1337

2019-05-26 22:27

Really hope the 3080 ti comes soon... the 2080 ti is not a worthwhile investment imo... want a single gpu that is faster than my 1080's in sli, which the 2080 ti isn't.

#5673400

nevcairiel

2019-05-27 01:28

valrond:

As others have said, you can't trademark numbers. And ATI/AMD and nVidia already had cards with the same numbers: Radeon 9800 Geforce 9800 Radeon R9 280 Geforce 280.

While this is true, those never directly competed against one another. There were years in between them, so confusion while GPU shopping was pretty limited. In this particular case, the only reason AMD would be using those numbers is to cause a conflict with NVIDIA. AMDs latest generation was 5xx, now they jump to 3000, incidentally when this is NVIDIAs next generation, and as such one higher then the current one.

#5673404

NiColaoS

2019-05-27 01:51

Eastcoasthandle:

LOL, unbelievable level of stupid. You can't trademark numbers. Nvidia is that bent on slowing down node shrinks as they don't have any tangible benefit for their own IP's. I have to wonder what they plan on doing once 5nm finally hits. I know, try to trademark 5 and nm. 😱

I'm pretty sure they don't trademark numbers. Withing legal terminology, these are marked as product names.