A l'intérieur des marques Marques Analytics, Recherche & Stratégie

3Apr/101

Suit jeu en ligne contre Facebook Rejeté, Mais des poursuites contre Créateur de jeu Facebook – Rxn chaîne Still On


Est-Rxn chaîne un clone de Boomshine?

À titre de suivi à notre Mars 19 poste concernant la poursuite déposée contre Danny Miller Facebook et le propriétaire de la chaîne Rxn jeu(une prétendueclone de Miller, plus tôt jeu), nous avons appris que le juge dans l'affaire a rejeté la plainte contre Miller Facebook pour non-État, une demande (sur lesquels la franchise peut être accordée) pour complicité de contrefaçon.  

C'est la manière de la Cour de dire que même en prenant tout Danny Miller a placé dans sa plainte que vrai, qu'il(vraiment ses avocats) n'a pas indiqué assez de faits ou donnés des explications asseztion quant à la façon Facebook est en fait responsable d'une violation de toute sorte.  

En bref, Si vous allégation selon laquelle une partie a contributive unfringed, mais ne peut pas montrer comment ce parti soit contribué à l'atteinte de votre jeu ou induit d'autres d'y porter atteinte, vous aurez du mal à obtenir votre cause soit entendue.

Malgré ce revers, cependant, le cas se déplace toujours en avant contre le créateur du jeu Chain Rxn. Les demandes d'Miller,le Boomshine et la chaîne Rxn jeux sont vraiment très proches visuellement et en termes de jeu. Et sur la plainte de Miller et de l'ordre récentes de la Cour, Nous croyons que Miller sera probablement convaincre le tribunal que la chaîne Rxn est un clone de Boomshine.  

Voir notre article précédent, alors décider pour vous-même et dites-nous ce que vous pensez.

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29Mar/101

Tendances des marques virtuel 2005-2009: Biens virtuels, Monnaie et des mondes


A few years ago, virtual worlds such as Linden Labs' Second Life garnered a lot of media attention and attracted many new users chasing the next big thing. Meanwhile, the creation, sale and use of virtual goods and currency grew strong within the once niche market of massive multiplayer online (MMO) Gaming.

Maintenant, virtual goods and currencies reach beyond the MMO gaming world and have significant impact on the business models and development of social games, social networks, and community sites. With various estimates claiming that the virtual goods market will grow from $1 billion in 2009 to $1.6 billion in 2010, we thought it useful to conduct a study of how companies playing within the virtual space protect and leverage their brands. Our findings thus far have been interesting and shed a lot of light on where the industry is going.

Inside Trademarks

The study is ongoing, but to whet your appetite before we publish our report, we include the chart above. This chart shows the number of trademarks filed per year between 2005 et 2009 that expressly cover virtual goods, virtual currency (or virtual money), and virtual worlds.

Here are some of our early conclusions from the study:

1. Those with trademarks covering core virtual brand aspects (i.e. the signs, icons or symbols that consumers know you for) show higher than average ARPU.

2. In markets such as the US, where consumers tend to be more willing to pay for virtual goods, trademark protection appears to make a more significant impact than some other markets where consumers may not be willing to pay as much.

3. With many new entrants and more venture financing entering the social media and virtual goods markets, competition for "share of voice" and consumer attention will only get tougher.  Companies with a trademark strategy that incorporates certain "best practices" that we identify in the study are best positioned to distinguish from their competition and profit from their brands in the future. 

Please contact us for more details and information regarding the A l'intérieur des marques™ Virtual Goods Report.

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28Mar/100

Apple Avoids iPad Trademark BattleBuying iPad Trademark from Fujitsu


Putting an end to months of speculation by business analysts and legal experts, Apple has avoided a trademark battle with Fujitsu over the iPad trademark. 

We believe that Apple paid an undisclosed amount to Fujitsu (estimated to be over $4 million USD) in exchange for an assignment of their iPad trademark rights to Apple.  U.S. Brevet & Trademark Office records show that Fujitsu assigned their iPad trademark rights to Apple on March 17.

Apple publicly announced the iPad tablet to much fanfare earlier this year. Many, including us (see our previous articles -Partie I et Partie II), openly wondered about Apple's next steps given Fujitsu's position.

Fujitsu held more senior U.S. trademark rights to "IPAD" for its own mobile device.  Apple first indicated it's intent to oppose the registration and validity of Fujitsu's iPad trademark in September 2009, but by January 30, 2010 Apple also filed three requests for extensions of time to oppose Fujitsu.

This shows, in retrospect, that Apple and Fujitsu were in the midst of negotiations regarding the iPad trademark. And it is now clear that those negotiations led to Apple's purchase of the iPad trademark, and Fujitsu's assignment of it's trademark rights.

As we have previously discussed, Apple acquired rights to the iPhone trademark from Cisco in a similar fashion. Maintenant, with iPad, Apple again proves it's post announcement trademark acquisition tactics successful.

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24Mar/101

Cloud Computing Trademark Trends


Cloud computing is all the rage now in the information technology industry.  Few, if any, had ever even heard of the term "cloud computing" until 2007, when Dell first tried to secure a trademark for the term.  Ultimately, Dell was unsuccessful in it's effort due to the US trademark office's later decision that the term was descriptive in 2008. 

What is cloud computing?  The term "cloud computing" generally describes internet-based computing where shared resources such as software and data are provided on-demand to computers and other devices.  The NIST provides a more extensive definition.    

Over the past two years, information technology vendors and marketers have used the term so widely that many still debate its definition and whether cloud computing encompasses all of the various services that it is hyped for.  Hype or not, we know that companies will take certain steps to position themselves to take advantage of new concepts or technologies introduced into their industry. 

One step that companies take to position themselves is trademark filing. While there are other steps, such as R&D, marketing investment and others,  successful long-term branding is generally built upon a strong foundation of trademarks.

Our review of filings seeking to cover cloud computing (either in the name or description of goods/services) reveals that a number of companies have more than just a passing interest in cloud computing, and are clearly positioning themselves to make cloud computing part of the brand proposition that they offer.

Key Findings:

  • The first trademarks covering cloud computing were filed in 2007
  • Cloud computing trademark filings have since increased at an exponential rate
  • There was a %483 increase in cloud computing trademarks between 2008 et 2009
  • Companies have already filed 112 new cloud computing trademarks this year (as of Mar 24, 2010)
  • We project that by year-end there will be 500-1000 cloud computing trademarks on file

For more information on the impact of trademarks on companies marketing cloud computing services please contact us.

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