Apparently, funky news website Fark is applying for a trademark on the acronym “NSFW” (Not Safe For Work). Yes, really.
As TechCrunch pointed out, their chances of getting approved are low, so perhaps it’s all a joke. Filing a trademark application through an attorney (as Fark seems to have done) is relatively inexpensive, so maybe they figured “what the hell”. Seems like a funny way to spend your money, but they’re certainly entitled to do so.
But really, what’s the point? Assuming for the moment that they’re not joking about the application, what’s the next stage? If you get a trademark, you need to defend it. Are they seriously going to start suing every website that uses NSFW in a warning next to a link?