Porn Giant Vivid to Take Legal Action Over HTC Vivid Name

Sex-tape specialist unhappy with the HTC Vivid smartphone.

Adult entertainment giant Vivid Entertainment is unhappy with the naming of one of HTC's smartphones: the Vivid.

Vivid Entertainment has sent a cease and desist to HTC claiming that the Vivid smartphone infringes on the film producer's trademark. Vivid Entertainment believes that customers may get confused and think that the HTC Vivid is associated with the sexual media maker.

The letter from Vivid Entertainment threatens to take HTC to court if the phone's name isn't changed by Monday.

Stay tuned.

You need to be logged to post a comment

There are 49 Comments. B

Top Comments

30 Ð

aznguy0028 , November 18, 2011 7:13 AM

looks like this will be a sticky situation.. xD
27 Ð

bunga28 , November 18, 2011 7:13 AM

No chance that it (vivid ent.) will win. zero, zip, dipadood, nope; no chance in hell or on earth. Vivid is an English word describing strong, clear impression or chroma. It's not ubiquitous. I think there a few similar cases that were thrown out by the judges. (I don't remember the specific, but I do know that they were thrown out.)
19 Ð

alchemy69 , November 18, 2011 7:59 AM

Bad news for the forthcoming Samsung Bang Bros

Other Comments

27 Ð

bunga28 , November 18, 2011 7:13 AM

No chance that it (vivid ent.) will win. zero, zip, dipadood, nope; no chance in hell or on earth. Vivid is an English word describing strong, clear impression or chroma. It's not ubiquitous. I think there a few similar cases that were thrown out by the judges. (I don't remember the specific, but I do know that they were thrown out.)
30 Ð

aznguy0028 , November 18, 2011 7:13 AM

looks like this will be a sticky situation.. xD
2 Ð

mouse24 , November 18, 2011 7:14 AM

Calm down guys, no reason to get antsy right off the bat, simply ask them if they can change the name...

Don't go straight into trying to make this a court case.

I highly doubt HTC wants the phones named after porn anyways. -.-
0 Ð

mman74 , November 18, 2011 7:25 AM

Can I trademark the word Porn, please? Oh can I , can I , please .... please....?
3 Ð

zoemayne , November 18, 2011 7:30 AM

reminds me of a situation where a strip club was called rolex. rolex the watch maker sued them and many other users of the name rolex. eventually the club changed its name to lex.
0 Ð

ocelotty , November 18, 2011 7:31 AM

I think that Vivid entertainment should stand up for themselves and show some spunk. Fortunately the HTC Vivid is not 3D enabled or we might really see a messy courtroom drama; Otherwise it could give whole new meaning to coming at you in 3D
9 Ð

AndrewMD , November 18, 2011 7:36 AM

I would hope the judge throws this out and make an example of unrelated companies like this one...
18 Ð

dalauder , November 18, 2011 7:47 AM

zoemaynereminds me of a situation where a strip club was called rolex. rolex the watch maker sued them and many other users of the name rolex. eventually the club changed its name to lex.
Except that "Rolex" is a brand name, not an often-used English adjective. That's like Apple suing grocery stores for marketing fruit under their trademarked name...although I wouldn't put that past Apple's lawyers.
19 Ð

alchemy69 , November 18, 2011 7:59 AM

Bad news for the forthcoming Samsung Bang Bros
17 Ð

tacoslave , November 18, 2011 8:05 AM

alchemy69Bad news for the forthcoming Samsung Bang Bros

Samsung? what about Nintendo's upcoming "Super Bang Bros 3D"
10 Ð

sixdegree , November 18, 2011 8:11 AM

That lawsuit is a waste of time. Vivid should just make a porn streaming application for android and HTC should bundle them with HTC Vivid. That way, everybody wins.
9 Ð

jsc , November 18, 2011 8:19 AM

Legal precedence is on HTC's side.
5 Ð

anonymous@guest , November 18, 2011 8:40 AM

Vivid is a f***ing word, this is just sad.
4 Ð

anonymous@guest , November 18, 2011 8:41 AM

HTC Brazzer has a ring to it
17 Ð

mortonww , November 18, 2011 9:14 AM

They probably don't expect to win, they just expect to get media coverage and more exposure (pardon the pun).
0 Ð

ern88 , November 18, 2011 9:17 AM

What a bunch of retards. It;s a model name. Has nothing to do with Porn. The Porn business must be taking a noise dive!!!
2 Ð

Kami3k , November 18, 2011 9:31 AM

dalauderExcept that "Rolex" is a brand name, not an often-used English adjective. That's like Apple suing grocery stores for marketing fruit under their trademarked name...although I wouldn't put that past Apple's lawyers.

Sad things is, Apple has already done that. Except it was with the apple symbol for the supermarket.
7 Ð

ballinjoey2332 , November 18, 2011 9:33 AM

Quote:
Vivid Entertainment believes that customers may get confused and think that the HTC Vivid is associated with the sexual media maker.

Really? I know there is dumb people in this world but damn
4 Ð

anonymous@guest , November 18, 2011 9:36 AM

The HTC vivid will for ever more be called the "HTC porno"
4 Ð

skaz , November 18, 2011 9:57 AM

Ridiculous. Yo, my names Bob give me $5 if yours is too. The system is severely flawed.

Display more comments

Porn Giant Vivid to Take Legal Action Over HTC Vivid Name

Tom’s guide in the world