February 2, 2015

Loan By Drone and Eight Other Silly “Drone” Trademarks

Put a drone on it!

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-195855899/stock-photo-drone-carrying-cargo-container-fast-and-mass-transportation-concept.html?src=HbtM4Yx_fnhNwGBoLywCVw-2-95&ws=1">Chesky</a>/Shutterstock

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Drones are so hot right now. That’s why more than 140 active trademarks using the word “drone” are currently registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Some noteworthy ones:

Drone Porn®: This one was bound to happen. A registered trademark covering video and “electronic, electric, and digital transmission of voice, data, and images, all in the field of adult entertainment.” (See also: “Drone Boning”—definitely NSFW.)

Loan By Drone®: Predatory lending meets Predators with “payday advances, payday loans, short term loans, installment loans, title loans, title pawns, check cashing and stored value card services delivered via drone.” The business doesn’t appear to have started yet, but there are already places that will loan you drones or the money to buy them.

Drones Gone Wild®: “Entertainment services in the nature of an ongoing reality based television program.” Thankfully, there doesn’t appear to be any reality TV project with this name yet, but there are some interesting YouTube videos.

DroneRepellent®: This idea for “computer software and hardware for use in diverting unmanned aerial vehicles from airplanes” seems like a pretty solid idea, especially considering some of these recent close calls. The trademark holder, Infatics Inc., also has a service helping people track and control their small drones.

Game of Drones®: Though it also encompasses educational services “in the field of unmanned aerial vehicle use,” this trademark is currently being used to selll quadcopters designed to “resist fire, water and extreme impacts.”

Don’t Drone Me Bro®: A play on the “Don’t taze me, bro” guy, this trademarked phrase has found its way onto a series of T-shirts and stickers, a Facebook page, internet memes, and even a National Review headline.

NADS (National Association of Drone Sportsmen)®: Another registered T-shirt slogan, owned by a nascent political/media strategy group. Or something.

Git-R-Drone®: Registered as a T-shirt slogan, this one doesn’t seem to be on anything yet. Larry the Cable Guy’s lawyers must move quick.

Drone Dudes®: This team of “filmmakers, creatives, tech-heads, music-lovers, flying robots and a pup named Dutch” are doing some cool aerial cinematography. Take a look.

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In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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