In what can only be called a highly expected development, Amazon is being sued over the trademark for its "Fire TV" streaming set-top box by the company that made a "FyreTV" device years earlier. That the latter only streamed porn, it seems, is not enough to differentiate the two.
The similarity in names was noted on the very day of the Fire TV's release on April 2. Wreal, the Florida-based company behind the FyreTV device and streaming porn channel (available for other set-top boxes), didn't waste any time forming and filing a lawsuit (PDF) in federal court in Miami.
While the situation is humorous, the case may have merit.
"At its core," reads the filing in part, "Amazon's Fire TV product is nothing more than a proprietary STB [set-top box] that performs a substantially similar, if not identical, function to the proprietary STB marketed under the FyreTV trademark."
The company then points out in the filing that people were publicly registering their confusion over the terms, and also that Amazon almost certainly was aware of the trademark before launching its product.
Indeed, the FyreTV product has existed since 2008, and while it is not nearly as popular as Amazon's new device, the trademark is registered and the products are similar in many ways.
The confusion is alleged to have caused "irreparable damage" to the FyreTV brand, and Wreal is demanding that Amazon cease using the name and surrender any profits earned "by its illegal use of the Fire TV name."
Amazon did not respond to requests for comment on the issue.