NY Mets Oppose Trademark For Medical Exam Tracking System (METS) Claiming Potential Customer Confusion

from the swing-and-a-miss dept

Look, dear reader, I live in the real world. I see a great many people genuinely confused about a great many things that shouldn't be confusing, so I'm aware of how many morons in a hurry occupy this planet. Still, I'm struggling to imagine anyone being confused by the trademark application currently being opposed by the New York Mets baseball team.

Comprehensive Health Services, a source for workforce medical services, registered a “METS” trademark for its proprietary Medical Exam Tracking System, trademark records show. The Cape Canaveral-based METS, according to the trademark application, provides “online non-downloadable cloud-based and client-server software for generating, managing and exchanging medical information.”

The Flushing, NY, Mets, in a notice of opposition filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office on July 24, are objecting to the award of the trademark to the Florida outfit. The baseball Mets claim both companies are practically in the same business and the public could be confused.

The "practically in the same business" claim rests on the Mets noting that the team provides "online non-downloadable software online for the purpose of facilitating organization of information about baseball games, events and venues." Practically in the same business appears to be a gross exaggeration on par with my claim that I am the beacon of sexual charisma for North America. I'm trying to picture the reaction of the person examining this opposition, hoping they had the same mind-halting moment at reading this.

The only other claims in the opposition appear to rest on the fact that the Mets have held their own trademark for half a century and yet another strange claim that the logos for both companies would be confusing, because apparently the public can't differentiate between the New York City skyline and a heart rate monitor line.

Apparently that’s enough for the MLB team, whose logo includes a backdrop of Gotham’s skyline, to take further issue with a METS’ mark that depicts what its application calls a “stylized heart rate line.”

Here's the proposed logo. Try not to go into a blithering stupor over your own confusion.


This is normally where I'd come up with an arguably witty retort to how silly this all is, but I shouldn't have to. This opposition by the New York Mets is bonkers.

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Filed Under: baseball, likelihood of confusion, medical exam tracking, mets, trademark
Companies: comprehensive health services, ny mets


Reader Comments

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  1. icon
    Roger Strong (profile), 7 Aug 2017 @ 7:54pm

    NY Mets: "Here's our assessment of the intelligence of our fans."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    orbitalinsertion (profile), 7 Aug 2017 @ 8:23pm

    Re:

    Now I'm confused, as given this as true, said fans would not be making any use of the other service.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    orbitalinsertion (profile), 7 Aug 2017 @ 8:34pm

    I wonder how often people looking for the Mets' "online, non-downloadable content" end up at an opera or art museum site. I bet there are major business losses involved.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    Roger Strong (profile), 7 Aug 2017 @ 8:41pm

    Re: Re:

    On the contrary, the Medical Exam Tracking System customer base has significant overlap with the NY Mets fan base.

    If the NY Mets are to be believed, their fans display a level of stupidity so alarming that emergency personnel with ventilators should be tracking them in case they forget to breathe.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Anonymous Anonymous Coward (profile), 7 Aug 2017 @ 8:48pm

    Live and Learn

    It's about downloadable software? Reading the headline the last few days I thought the confusion was going the be about the fans confusing the search they get when they attend home games with medical exams.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. icon
    That Anonymous Coward (profile), 7 Aug 2017 @ 9:25pm

    Someones trying to earn their retainer...
    Tis a pity the governing bodies can't bitchslap the lawyer & client for allowing stupid shit to move forward.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Capt ICE Enforcer, 8 Aug 2017 @ 5:28am

    Problem solver

    I have the solution. They should change there METS application to something more sporty. Maybe by adding a letter, such as "i". Yes they should change it to "iMETS".

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2017 @ 6:30am

    I could understand the confusion if ...

    the New York METS were a tennis team. But baseball? I think medical intervention is required ASAP to check if there's still brain function. I suspect they've gone flat line.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2017 @ 6:53am

    Your first mistake is writing that the Mets are a baseball team.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    psiuuuuuu, 8 Aug 2017 @ 7:01am

    Whooops

    Wanted to go see a baseball game, somehow I ended up booking a prostate exam.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    Vidiot (profile), 8 Aug 2017 @ 7:03am

    Cancer patients must really piss off the team... clinical shorthand for "metastasis" yields terms like "bone mets" and "brain mets". Although I think those are actually cousins of the team mascot, Mr. Met.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2017 @ 7:36am

    The days of miracle are long gone. Selfish bastards.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. icon
    stderric (profile), 8 Aug 2017 @ 8:52am

    Re:

    They've even got a team of dyslexic lawyers assigned to go after university Engineering departments.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Aug 2017 @ 1:01pm

    Who orders these kind of things?
    Is it really just the law firm going after whatever they find to get some money or does some manager decide that?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    senja kelabu (profile), 8 Aug 2017 @ 8:20pm

    Judi Poker

    A very interesting discussion my friend and I love the theme of this website

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Wendy Cockcroft, 9 Aug 2017 @ 2:47am

    Re:

    The real confusion is created by the use of the term "Intellectual property." When you're convinced you own a word you'll fight for it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. icon
    John85851 (profile), 9 Aug 2017 @ 10:13am

    A joke too far

    This reminds me of the joke on "Friends":
    Joey is taking a lady out on a date and asks Ross where to go.
    Ross: Take her to the Met.
    Joey: The Met? That's great! I love baseball.
    Ross: No, not the Mets, the Met- the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
    Joey: Really? That's confusing. You'd think one of them would change their name.

    So it would be more logical for the Mets to go after the Met since the words are so similar. No one will confuse a software program for a baseball team, but they might confuse the locations in New York.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 13 Aug 2017 @ 3:13pm

    Re: Problem solver

    Hell Mets is probably more appropriate

    link to this | view in thread ]


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