Trademork.com: trademark oddities, information and news by Mork

Atari

Mork — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:28:22 +0000

On June 26, 2008, Atari Interactive, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Infogames, filed to protect the trademark Atari in relation to “internet protocol phones” as well as “residential telephone apparatus composing telephones and telephone connecting units”.

An Atari phone? Mork wonders if this is the latest move by Atari in their reported shift toward more casual and social gaming.

Source: Trademork.com

Gizmondo

Mork — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:12:58 +0000

On April 18, 2008, Media Power, Inc., a New York-based company whose majority shareholder is Carl Freer, the Swedish businessman and entrepreneur who developed the Gizmondo handheld gaming console, filed to protect the trademark Gizmondo in relation to a “portable and/or hand-held electronic device for interactive computer and video games” as well as slew of other products and services related to the device. The filing mirrors the original Gizmondo filing for the device by Gizmondo Europe that was abandoned in January of 2007, about a year after the company went bankrupt.

The gaming unit’s poor sales in 2005 and early 2006 were overshadowed by news of the extravagant spending and criminal histories of Freer and other executives of Tiger Telematics, the American manufacturer of the Gizmondo unit. Tiger and Gizmondo Europe reportedly burned through in excess of $300 million before going bankrupt.

Rumors of the return of the Gizmondo have recently resurfaced. And Kotaku reported a couple months back that UK electronics design firm Plextek is working with Freer to bring the Gizmondo back to market. Kotaku’s live blog of a talk entitled “High Tech Ventures in Mobile Gaming and Media” Freer gave last month at Georgia Tech provides a few more details about the Gizmondo 2.0.

Source: Trademork.com

Prince of Persia Prodigy

Mork — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:36:04 +0000

Update: Ubisoft registered the domain princeofpersiaprodigy.com on April 1, 2008. While the site currently redirects to a cryptic placeholder screen, expect to see a real site there sooner than later.
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On April 15, 2008, video game designer Jordan Mechner, the creator and owner of the Prince of Persia game franchise, filed to protect the trademark Prince of Persia Prodigy in relation to “game software and electronic game programs; electronic game software for mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and handheld computers”.

Since Mechner is the owner of the trademarks Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia The Sands of Time, Prince of Persia Warrior Within and Prince of Persia The Two Thrones, and has licensed the property to Ubisoft for the aforementioned games, Mork suspects that Prince of Persia Prodigy might be the name of the next-gen sequel to the Sands of Time trilogy that has been rumored about since 2006.

In addition, a Prince of Persia film is currently in pre-production and will be directed by Mike Newell and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. When Gamasutra asked Mechner in December of 2007 regarding the connection between the name of the film and the name of future Prince of Persia games, he refused to comment, suggesting there might be a connection.

Late last year, Surfer Girl Reviews claimed that Prince of Persia 4 would be called Prince of Persia Ghosts of the Past. But given this new trademark filing, and the fact that the Ghosts of the Past name has not been trademarked or mentioned since, Mork wonders if Mechner and Ubisoft have either changed their minds with regard to the name, or have some other version or platform port in the works.

Source: Trademork.com

Pure Futbol

Mork — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:59:46 +0000

On March 20, 2008, game developer and publisher Ubisoft filed to protect the trademark Pure Futbol in relation to “game software and electronic game programs, namely software games recorded on CD-ROM and digital video discs for computers, electronic game software for mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and handheld computers”.

On April 9, 2008, Ubisoft filed for protection for additional products and services:

Pure Futbol: “entertainment services namely providing an on-line computer game for others over global and local area computer networks and providing information on-line relating to computer games, video games and computer and video games related products and entertainment services in the nature of production of television programs”

Pure Futbol: “toys and playthings, namely dolls, toy action figures, plush toys and accessories thereof, playsets for dolls and toy action figures, toy vehicles, toy model hobby craft kits, and hand held units for electronic games”

Pure Futbol: “Computer game instruction manuals and published guides containing suggestions on how to play the computer games”

Since there’s currently no information about this title online, Mork suspects it might be a sequel or some variation of Ubisoft’s Real Football 2008, a Nintendo DS soccer game developed by Gameloft and released in October of last year.

Source: Trademork.com

Applicast

Mork — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:12:17 +0000

On March 27, 2008, Sony Corporation filed to protect the trademark Applicast in relation to “application software pre-installed in television sets to download icons; television sets; LCD television sets; PDP television sets; projection television sets”.

Mork dug a little deeper and found the term “Applicast” mentioned on a Sony Fact Book PDF from 2007. On the third page, titled “The Technologies Behind Bravia”, in the subsection called “New Ways to Enjoy Using Networks”, it reads: “BRAVIA LCD televisions are compatible with such networking applications as Applicast, which makes it possible to look up information on the Internet while watching television”.

In addition, an Asian Tech News site called Tech-On! subsequently reported that Applicast would be a feature of the BRAVIA J5000 and J3000 televisions planned for release in Japan last Spring.

Mork just hopes Applicast is nothing like NetChannel.

Source: Trademork.com

Empire City

Mork — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:43:04 +0000

On April 8, 2008, Frank Miller, Inc. filed to protect the trademark Empire City in relation to a “series of comic books, over sized comic books and graphic novels, coloring books, fiction and nonfiction magazines and books in the field of leisure and entertainment”.

Frank Miller is an American comic book writer and artist most known for his work on the Batman and Daredevil series, as well as on his original stories 300 and Sin City.

Empire City is a fictional setting, a city in the DC Comics universe. It is best known as the home of the Golden Age Manhunter, Paul Kirk (Wikipedia). Whether Miller’s work will be based on this location, or a reinvention of it, remains to be seen.

Frank Miller Inc. has also filed for the trademark Genetic Mutilation in relation to a series of comics and graphic novels. Since the Paul Kirk character mentioned above was the genetic source for a collection of clones, developed by a secret society called the Council to rule the world, it appears the two names and trademark filings could be related.

Source: Trademork.com

Spyborgs

Mork — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:41:02 +0000

On April 7, 2008, Japanese video game developer and publisher Capcom Entertainment filed to protect the trademark Spyborgs in relation to a video game. The full filing covers:

“computer game software, computer game cartridges, computer game cassettes, computer games pre-recorded on CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs, computer game tapes, video game cartridges, software for arcade-type video games, downloadable game software, downloadable computer games, downloadable internet games, downloadable game software for playing on mobile phones, downloadable mobile telephone tones, downloadable digital music provided from the internet; pre-recorded audio disks, CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs featuring games, music, animated cartoons and action/adventure entertainment movies; downloadable ring tones, images, moving images and music for mobile phones; downloadable screen saver software and wallpaper software for mobile phones”

While there is currently no information about this anywhere, Mork did discover that Capcom registered the spyborgs.com domain on March 14, 2008. We’ll see what pops up there in the next few weeks or months.

Source: Trademork.com

Read more: N4G - Capcom Trademarks Spyborgs

Microsoft Equipt

Mork — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:04:54 +0000

On April 4, 2008, Microsoft Corporation filed to protect the trademark Microsoft Equipt in relation to the following:

“computer software, namely, software for information management, creating spreadsheets, tables, graphs, and charts, and for organizing and analyzing data; computer software for word processing; computer software for creation and display of presentations including text and graphics; computer software for use in note-taking, namely, computer software for recording, organizing, editing and transmitting audio and visual information and images in electronic form; computer software for providing network and personal computer security, anti-virus protection, intrusion detection and prevention, computer system and software maintenance, software updates, and computer backup and restoration; computer software for receiving, displaying, storing, editing, organizing, sharing and collaborating with other users documents, sounds, music, videos, photographs, drawings, images and data stored electronically; computer software for electronic mail and for use over the global computer information network; computer software for connecting users to web messaging services and for text, voice and video transmissions over the Internet and wireless networks”

Sounds to Mork like some kind of software package where a user would be appropriately “equipped” to get busy doing stuff. While there’s no info attached to this name currently online, the domain names equipt.com and microsoftequipt.com have been recently privately registered. So, maybe we’ll see something soon on one of these sites about this.

Mork just hopes the Equipt package runs on XP as well as Vista.

Source: Trademork.com

Miley

Mork — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:16:46 +0000

On March 28, 2008, Destiny Hope Cyrus, also known as Miley Ray Cyrus, or her alter ego Hannah Montana, filed to protect the trademark Miley in relation to a variety of goods and services:

Miley: “musical sound recordings, CDs, DVDs, tapes, discs, downloadable recordings and MP3 files; motion picture films; multimedia files; consumer electronics, electronic and multimedia goods; electronic, computer and video games, photographic equipment, mobile telephones, mobile telephone accessories”

Miley: “indoor and outdoor furniture; camping equipment; non-metal picture frames and plastic novelty license plates; jewelry boxes; figures and figurines; hand-held mirrors; Venetian blinds; wind chimes; mugs, beverage glassware, sports bottles, cake pans, cookie jars, bottle openers, hair brushes, lunch boxes, napkin holders, paper cups, napkin holders, ice chests; blankets, blanket throws, linen, bedding and towels”

Miley: “skin care products, hair care products, sun tanning products, cosmetics, nail care products, fragrances, jewelry, watches, clocks, rubber bracelets”

Miley: “men’s, women’s and children’s wearing apparel, headwear, footwear, sportswear, swimwear, beachwear, outerwear, underwear, loungewear, sleepwear, toys, games, sports equipment, plush toys, play cosmetics, dolls, electronic games, magic tricks, party favors, action figures, Christmas tree decorations, inflatable toys, jump ropes, kites, marbles, playing cards, skateboards, roller skates, toy vehicles”

Miley: “goods made of leather or imitations of leather namely, trunks, valises, attaché cases, traveling bags, garment bags for travel, rucksacks, handbags, beach bags, shopping bags, shoulder bags, clutch bags, tote bags, duffel bags, bags for other purposes, luggage, suitcases, sport bags, athletic bags, book bags, messenger bags, brief cases”

Miley: “printed material, paper goods, writing implements and accessories, calendars, diaries, planners, greetings cards, souvenir books, autograph books, appointment books, coloring books, albums, printed invitations, stationary, newsletters; show programs, posters, paper banners, book covers, decals, stickers, wrapping paper, notebooks”

Miley: “online retail store services featuring clothing, toys and games, electronic media featuring pre-recorded content relating to entertainment and music; on-line retail store services featuring downloadable pre-recorded content relating to entertainment and music”

Miley: “entertainment services namely live, televised and movie appearances by a professional entertainer and dramatic, comedic and musical performances associated therewith; production and distribution of motion picture, television, radio, sound and video recordings; production of interactive programs for distribution in and by all media; amusement park services, theme park services”

Miley: “Food items in all forms, candies, licorice, marshmallows, chewing gum, ingredients for food, snack foods, pop corn, pretzels, crackers, salad dressings, sauces, frozen confections, frozen meals, condiments, teas; non-alcoholic beverages of all kind, energy drinks, water, fruit juices, fruit punch, non-alcoholic carbonated beverages, sports drinks, vegetable juices”

Its a Miley Cyrus-Hannah Montana world. We just live in it.

Source: Trademork.com

Luigi’s Flying Tires

Mork — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:59:23 +0000

On March 18, 2008, Disney Enterprises, Inc. filed to protect the trademark Luigi’s Flying Tires in relation to “amusement park services”. Mork suspects that Luigi’s Flying Tires will be what Disney previously announced as Luigi’s Roaming Tires, which is part of the new 12-acre Cars Land and the $1.1-billion makeover of California Adventure set to open in 2012.

According to the Los Angeles Times Travel Blog, Luigi’s Flying Tires is an update of Tomorrowland’s original Flying Saucers futuristic bumper-car ride. Instead of piloting a flying saucer, riders in the new Luigi ride will steer a big-rig truck tire through tilting towers of retreads. Luigi, of course, is the likeable co-star of the Disney-Pixar animated feature “Cars”.

Disney has also filed to trademark Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Radiator Springs Racers for theme park rides. On Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, riders will sit in a cart towed by a tractor that spins through Mater’s junkyard. While Radiator Springs Racers will be an indoor-outdoor attraction that combines a leisurely dark ride prelude with a dueling side-by-side race car finale akin to Epcot’s Test Track in Orlando, Florida.

For those interested in tracking the progress of the upcoming California Adventure renovation and Cars Land attractions, Mork suggests checking out MiceChat’s Disney’s California Adventure Project Tracker.

Source: Trademork.com