In a move that seems misguided at best, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC has apparently filed paperwork to trademark the phrase “Let’s Play,” a term normally used for a type of web video where a gamer plays through an entire game while providing commentary on the experience.

Some sleuthy NeoGAF users stumbled across a trademark request filed by Sony that appears to be staking a claim to the phrase when it refers to “electronic transmission and streaming of video games via global and local computer networks; streaming of audio, visual, and audiovisual material via global and local computer networks.”

It is unclear why Sony would believe that it should own the trademark to the phrase since Let’s Play videos have been made for thousands of games across every platform imaginable, and they are in no way exclusive to PlayStation. Most likely, Sony wants to capitalize on the name recognition for Let’s Plays to use on its own game streaming services.

Let’s Plays have existed for some time now, but they have especially grown in popularity over the last five years, with thousands of players uploading their game playthroughs to YouTube or streaming them live on sites like Twitch. Some of today’s most successful web video creators are Let’s Players, including Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg (pictured above), who has the most-subscribed channel on YouTube with over 41.5 million subscribers.

Request denied

It seems that Sony’s request may have already been denied, but the reason has nothing to do with the phrase “Let’s Play” being too generic or being already commonly in use. It turns out someone already beat Sony to it.

According to a letter from the United States Patent And Trademark Office (via PC Magazine), Sony’s trademark has been refused due to a “Likelihood of Confusion.”

“Registration of the applied-for mark is refused because of a likelihood of confusion with the mark in U.S. Registration No. 4459011,” the letter states.

The existing trademark, which is actually listed as “LP LET’Z PLAY,” belongs to Let’z Play of America LLC and had been filed in 2013. Sony still has a chance to fight for the trademark, and it is still unclear how such a ruling would affect the thousands of content creators who upload Let’s Plays every day.

Screenshot via PewDiePie | YouTube