Be prepared, you may never read another article that uses the word “shorts” so many times again. Ready? A UK high court has ruled Google is free to use the word shorts (here we go!) for the YouTube Shorts platform. A British short film television channel called Shorts International sued Google last year, arguing that the name Shorts infringed its existing trademark for the word, you guessed it, shorts.
The court disagreed. “None of Google's use of signs including the word 'shorts' gives rise to a likelihood of confusion as to origin,” Judge Michael Tappin said in his ruling. “Although the similarities between the Google signs and the SIL marks will give rise to a link in the minds of the limited group of UK consumers among whom the SIL marks have a reputation, Google's uses of signs that include the word “shorts” will not cause damage to the distinctive character or reputation of the SIL trademarks.”
YouTube Shorts was launched in 2020 in response to the popularity of other short video platforms like TikTok. It reached more than 1.5 billion monthly users two years later and can now display videos up to three minutes long, still pretty short (that's 12 short for you).
