For the benefits of those who religiously follow the world of trademarks with bated breath, I plan on doing a new segment for this blog. I call it “Trademark of the week”. As the name would suggest these posts will be highlighting new and unique trademarks which have been registered, approved, or rumoured to be approved in the past week. Following trademark registration is great fun, mostly because it gives insight as to what is to come and it is fun to see the strange intangible things that a person is entitled to own.
Before I give away the first of this prestigious award, it’s only fair that I give an honourable mention to this week’s runner up Tottenham’s soccer player Gareth Bale. Gareth Bale successfully trademarked his famous goal celebration which he calls the “eleven of hearts”. To some of you this might seem, on the surface, unnecessary and even bordering on the silly. However, if you think about it Bale now has the ability to make some serious revenue by selling his own merchandise with his celebration on it. News of Bale’s trademark falls short of Samsung’s new pending trademark which has garnered enough of my intrigue to earn it the title of trademark of the week.
Samsung is reportedly seeking to register a trademark in the US and South Korea for a wearable digital electronic device which connects to the internet. The trademark has been applied for under the name “Samsung Galaxy Gear” and set the internet abuzz by causing rumours of a new smart watch to run rampant. If the rumours ring true, Samsung is probably preparing to enter battle for the dominance in the developing “wearable technology” market. The market does not have any major players yet, but is soon expected to grow with the release of the highly anticipated Google Glass and Apple’s rumoured “iWatch”. Samsung’s patent registration is another notch to confirm that we are in for a lengthy battle between three of technologies most innovative giants (sorry Microsoft) and like the tablet and smart phone battles before it, it is sure to be filled with various forms of intellectual property disputes for us to follow.
Sources:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130812/BIZ07/308129983/1031/biz
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/business-news/internet-watch-trademark-bids-29482209.html
http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2013/08/09/4176659/bale-trademarks-eleven-of-hearts-goal-celebration
Link to patent:
http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn86022079&docId=APP20130801065946#docIndex=0&page=1
