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Comment by mthoms | Hacker News Reader

Fun fact. The new plugin uses "ACF" throughout the code, throughout the plugin reviews, and the url slug is literally "advanced-custom-fields".

Guess who owns the trademark for both those things? WPEngine, that's who.

https://imgur.com/a/D7YHn4e

This guy is so bad at this that it's not even funny anymore.

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Assuming that other plugins depend on ACF (which I get the impression is a thing?), automattic can probably argue that the use throughout the code is for compatibility reasons. There's also probably interactions with the GPL licenses (if it's GPL v2 or later).

“Under Examination”?

https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=98321164&caseSearchType=U...

>LIVE/APPLICATION/Under Examination. The trademark application has been accepted by the Office (has met the minimum filing requirements) and that this application has been assigned to an examiner.

Good catch. Looks like it was filed just under a year ago, and hasn't been finalized yet. If it is approved, I think the original filing date is considered the registration date, so Matt's usage would (at that point) qualify as infringement. However, I am NAL.

I’m not AL either, but I’ve been close to a couple of trademark applications and even a court case - so that’s why I was curious. Looking through some of the attached PDF, I wonder if it was, or will be denied unless amended, because the words are just too common and/or the scope for the trademark is being cast too wide? The examiner apparently sent a notice to the applicant earlier this year, and there seems to be some sort of extension to the application in play. This may suggest, that unless amended, the current application won’t be granted?

My reading is that the examiner thought "advanced custom fields" was too generic. WPE had until Oct. 19 to file a response or ask for an extension, and they asked for an extension on Oct. 4.

For "ACF" however, the examiner didn't see a problem and it has been published in the Federal Register. It will be registered if no one files an opposition during the publication period.

You don't need to have a registered trademark to sue for trademark infringement; registration does make it easier to assert your trademark and can increase damage in a court case.

Fair. I think to an outsider "Advanced Custom Fields" does sound generic. But in the WordPress world it is the gold standard for which all other plugins are judged. If you look on Wordpress subreddit threads like this one [0] and search for "ACF", you'll see it's one of the most known, respected and relied upon. So in that sense the name is very valuable and distinct.

Whether or not that means it will be granted I have no idea. On one hand it's only known in WordPress circles. On the other hand, WordPress is said to account for over 40% of the web.

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/1cc0aor/what_are...

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