Sony tried to trademark the term "Let's Play"

“Let’s Play” is the phrase that named a whole format: the community-adopted label for recorded playthroughs, guides, and commentated gameplay that turned platforms like YouTube into gaming’s biggest stage. Which is exactly why Sony’s attempt to trademark it raised so many eyebrows.

According to United States Patent and Trademark Office filings, Sony moved to register the two words on October 28, 2015 — and saw the action dismissed on December 29. The filing’s description covered “the electronic transmission and streaming of video games by global and local networks; streaming of audio material, images and audiovisual [content] by global and local networks.”

The dismissal didn’t bar Sony from using “Let’s Play” as a slogan or a program name — it meant the registration, as written, couldn’t proceed. The likely culprits: the phrase’s breadth of meaning and the ambiguity of the description.

The intent invited speculation in every direction: a Twitch- or YouTube Gaming-style platform of their own, a streaming service tied to PSN, or simply a bid to corner the term commercially. Sony had until June 29, 2016, to refile — or, at the very least, explain itself better. It chose not to, and “Let’s Play” stayed what it had always been: everyone’s word.