They have a pending trademark for Microsoft Copilot—do they also have an application for Copilot, unqualified?

https://trademarks.justia.com/981/61/microsoft-98161972.html

Edit: I found one for GitHub Copilot but no evidence of an unqualified trademark:

https://trademarks.justia.com/974/60/github-97460083.html

Microsoft doesn't get to own the world Copilot for everything.

In the USA, being sued is 99% of the punishment, losing the suit does not really matter. Especially when faced with a big corp like this.

You should think about what might get you in legal trouble, whether you might prevail is not relevant to your bottom line unless you are a Fortune 500 yourself.

Unfortunately, by that logic you could conclude that competing with Microsoft at all would be out of question because in theory they could sue you into oblivion with a completely arbitrary lawsuit.

The real world isn't quite that bad, so OP is correct to observe that Microsoft does not in fact have a trademark on Copilot, they have a pending trademark on Microsoft Copilot and GitHub Copilot. Given that their own trademarks (owned by different subsidiaries) include a second word to qualify them and would pose a substantial risk of confusion with each other if Copilot alone were treated as the mark, I think it's reasonable to argue that Microsoft couldn't claim a trademark on Copilot, unqualified, and is unlikely to even try to assert it.

> you could conclude that competing with Microsoft at all would be out of question because in theory they could sue you into oblivion

That is my conclusion yes.

Not for everything, but for AI assistants they conceivably could.

Personally, I don't think it really works either as a brand. A meeting is not that complicated that you need a "copilot". A stenographer is not a "copilot". This only worked with the hubris and obnoxiousness of tech people who think they are doing more than they are.

Normal people in the workforce know their boring job that this is trying to help automate isn't that complicated or exciting. The analogy with aviation couldn't make less sense for most jobs when trying to automate the boring aspects.

This subthread was about the legal implications of a trademark. For that it doesn’t matter whether the word choice is successful as a brand.

Thank you for suggestion. But in all honesty, f*ck Microsoft.

Trying to trademark copilot is trying to trademark something like ASI or AGI. Co-pilot has been widely used in the aviation industry, and by definition means a person/companion who can help you navigate.

So, I hope their trademark request gets rejected ¯\_(ツ)_/¯