In March, Nintendo sought to trademark the term "Wii Remote". As you'd expect, what with the device being theirs and all. But last week, a letter arrived at Nintendo HQ. The sender? The United States Patent Office. Their response?

"No dice".

Why? Because the word "remote" is too common to be trademarked. Can't own a word that the world already uses, guys. Seems somebody at Nintendo ticked the wrong box, and they'll now have to go back and try again, this time with the realisation they can only trademark the the name "Wii Remote", not both words individually.

U.S. Patent Office Balks at Nintendo's Wii Remote Trademark Attempt [Game Politics]

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