The new UK-IPO cartoon crew
A couple of days ago, the IPKat posted this about the new logo/name for the Patent Office. As one commenter confirmed, this is no joke. The Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham MP (not David Lammy - see comment below), applied for a UK trade mark for the new logo on 7 November 2008. The application has now been published as TM number 2501853.
Another curious IPKat reader, Guy Selby-Lowndes, then looked a little further and noticed that, two days before applying for the new logo mark, five other applications were filed to register what appear to be the name and appearance of various cartoon characters, all in classes 09, 16, 28, 35 and 38. Here they are, in glorious black and white:
TM Number 2501719:
TM Number 2501757:
Another curious IPKat reader, Guy Selby-Lowndes, then looked a little further and noticed that, two days before applying for the new logo mark, five other applications were filed to register what appear to be the name and appearance of various cartoon characters, all in classes 09, 16, 28, 35 and 38. Here they are, in glorious black and white:
TM Number 2501719:
TM Number 2501757:
The IPKat and Guy both wonder what the Secretary of State could possibly be up to. Is he intending to publish an IP comic? Will this be a development of the comic-style 2007 Annual Review, featuring Filament Fred (but none of the other characters)? If so, why the need for trade mark protection? Is this all part of a masterplan to educate the children of this nation into the ways of patenting (the names certainly seem to evoke the various necessary conditions to making patents work)? Can other readers shed any further light on this? Merpel thinks the characters look a bit scary, and is particularly worried what Norvello is intending to do with that big spike he is carrying.
