Get ready—you might not encounter another article that features the word “shorts” as frequently as this one. Are you ready? A UK high court has determined that Google is free to use the word shorts (here we go!) for YouTube’s Shorts platform. A British television channel specializing in short films, Shorts International, filed a lawsuit against Google last year, claiming that the name Shorts infringed upon its existing trademark for the word—unsurprisingly—shorts.
The court disagreed. “None of Google’s uses of signs including the word ‘shorts’ gives rise to a likelihood of confusion as to origin,” Judge Michael Tappin stated in his ruling. “While the similarities between Google’s signs and SIL’s trademarks will create a link in the minds of the limited group of UK consumers among whom SIL’s trademarks have a reputation, Google’s uses of signs including the word ‘shorts’ will not cause damage to the distinctive character or reputation of SIL’s trademarks.”
YouTube Shorts was launched in 2020 in response to the growing popularity of other short video platforms like TikTok. Two years later, it reached over 1.5 billion monthly users and can now feature videos up to three minutes in length—still pretty short (that’s 12 short(s) for you).