Trademarking, “NSFW”. WTF?

Fark.com, the community-supported (mostly off-beat) news and content site is attempting to trademark the popular acronym, “NSFW” a.k.a., Not Safe For Work. That’ll mean Fark’s exclusive rights to the term and usage across the board. Or as Slashdot reports, it could just be a big, weird joke.

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office:

Entertainment Services namely providing a website featuring photographic, audio, video and prose presentations featuring comedic captions regarding current events and online discussions and/or reviews of web materials of an adult nature; Entertainment services, namely, providing a web site featuring musical performances, musical videos, related film clips, photographs, and other multimedia materials; Entertainment services, namely, providing on-line reviews of photogrpahs and /or web postings of an adult nature

So, next time Gawker links to the latest batch of semi-offensive Britney images, you might see a different warning acronym…like “OWA” (Open When Alone), or “MSYBCWHROISFFA” (Make Sure Your Boss, Co-Worker & Human Recourses Officer Is Far, Far Away)

[via arstechnica]