WTF? P&G Wants to Trademark L.O.L.

[muriel_volestrangler]

If you thought all those texting acronyms couldn't be yanked out of the digital commons and trademarked, forget that. Procter & Gamble Co. has filed for trademarks on household and personal-care use of LOL, WTF, NBD and FML. FWIW, there's no indication products bearing those names exist yet, and P&G doesn't have trademark approval. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has sought clarifications from P&G, which has until January to respond.

Precise uses remain TBD, as P&G declined to provide TMI. But competitors who might want to use these acronyms may now face FOMO. BTW, despite those old untrue P&G-Satanism rumors, NBC reported in 2012 that LOL does NOT secretly stand for "Lucifer Our Lord."

http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/marketer-s-wtf-p-g-trademark-l-o-l/314693/

(I'd never seen 'FML' before - "fuck my life", apparently. Hard to see how you work that into a positive brand image, though)