Sony Trademarks “Couch Multiplayer,” “Social Virtual Reality,” “Social Screen” and More

Giuseppe Nelva April 16, 2014 6:55 AM EST

Sony Computer Entertainment just went on a trademarking spree, filing for the registration of several marks at the Japan Patent Office, as reported by Trademark Bot on Twitter.

Here’s the full list translated from Japanese:

[Trademark Number: 2014-20542]

Trademark: COUCH MULTIPLAYER

Applicant: Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.

Filing Date: 3/18/2014

Class: 9(Games, etc), 28 (Home Consoles etc)

[Trademark Number: 2014-20541]

Trademark: SOCIAL SCREEN

Applicant: Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.

Filing Date: 3/18/2014

Class: 9(Games, etc), 28 (Home Consoles etc)

[Trademark Number: 2014-20540]

Trademark: SOCIAL VR

Applicant: Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.

Filing Date: 3/18/2014

Class: 9(Games, etc), 28 (Home Consoles etc)

[Trademark Number: 2014-20539]

Trademark: SOCIAL VIRTUAL REALITY

Applicant: Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.

Filing Date: 3/18/2014

Class: 9(Games, etc), 28 (Home Consoles etc)

During the presentation of its Project Morpheus virtual reality headset Sony stressed hevaily on the possibility of making virtual reality a social experience by broadcasting the picture from Morpheus on the TV screen and enabling couch co-op gameplay. The term “couch multiplayer” has also been used a lot in relation to the remote play feature between PS4 and PS Vita.

Apparently Sony is serious enough about mixing social interaction with virtual reality that they went out of their way to trademark the definitions of the concept. It’ll be interesting to see if they’ll succeed in turning what is normally seen as the quintessential insular experience into a social one.