I don’t think trademarks are, in principal, evil. But anything that has billions of dollars riding behind its ability to get twisted out of proportion will be ruined.

Trademarks are like a cross between a signature on an art piece or a regulatory badge. They tell you where something’s from and who said it meets their standards, but are only relevant if the issuer doesn’t let others issue it. The #trademark itself ideally isn’t much of a creative work, so managing it doesn’t stifle much creativity.

But then fictional characters became brands, and their likenesses started getting trademarked to create overlap with copyright; this formed the foundation of modern media franchises, and everything went to hell. This is part of why I’ve grown a wary of official brand mascots in general.

POSSE note from seirdy.one/notes/2023/06/07/th…

Thoughts on trademarks

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