Trademark

LG sought to reinvent itself this year and got the ball rolling on two things. It created new product lines, Universal and Explorer, for "normal" and experimental phones, respectively. It also adopted a new naming scheme that moved away from single letters and numbers to make its phones more memorable. After the LG Velvet and the LG Wing, the company's next unconventional phone might be the LG Rollable. That is at least based on a trademark filing in Europe and it leaves little to the imagination what it could be.

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A trademark for a program "iPhone for life" was revealed this week by a set of international trademark offices. This trademark was filed for by Apple and seems to be associated with mobile data carriers and Apple Partners of several sorts. The important part here isn't the program with which this trademark will likely be associated. The important parts of this reveal are the implications for the person who signs up.

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Apple's partially bitten apple logo has remained practically unchanged since the beginning except for the color. Given how it is one of the most iconic logos today, it isn't surprising that it will fight tooth and nail to protect it against trademark violators and copycats, of which there are many. What you might expect, however, is for Apple to attack any company, big or especially small, that uses any fruit for a logo, which is apparently what it has been doing almost silently until a certain Prepear app decided they won't take things sitting down.

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It seems that things are ramping up for Samsung’s foldable phone. If all the tips and leaks are correct, it could make its first debut this week, at least in prototype form. There’s still some mystery surrounding the device, including what name it will have. There is still an ongoing debate about whether the Galaxy F moniker will be used for this foldable phone or for something else. A new trademark filing by Samsung, however, might settle that debate, though it could also give Samsung some legal headaches later down the road.

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The Nokia PureView may well return, with HMD Global reclaiming the storied photography trademark and in the process stoking rumors of camera-savvy future smartphones. Nokia, back in the days before the Microsoft acquisition, created PureView as a brand for its innovative camera technologies.

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As unusual trademarks go, scents are some of the rarest, but that hasn't stopped Hasbro from trademarking the distinctive smell of Play-Doh. Little changed since 1956, when Play-Doh was first created, the scent is one of the most distinctive aspects of the modeling dough experience, its makers argue.

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A Samsung trademark filing has appeared at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for the cringe-worthy name "Uhssup." The name, a reference to a phrase akin to uh, hey, what's up?, is for some sort of app that enables communication between friends who will also be able to share their current location with other users.

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VW has huge plans for electric cars, and the names of two more of its I.D. concept EVs may have just spilled ahead of the vehicles' big reveal. The German automaker has promised a total of fifteen different electrified models, globally, by 2025, with the first set to go on sale in the US in 2020. However, that hasn't stopped Volkswagen from previewing each in the form of a concept car.

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The late Steve Jobs will forever be associated with Apple (and the ill-fated NeXT), its products, and his contributions to modern computing. That, however, doesn’t mean that the eyes of the law will see things the same way. In Italy, for example, “Steve Jobs”, as a trademark, legally belongs to an Italian fashion company and, try as it might, Apple is unable to say otherwise.

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It had seemed like tensions between Google and Amazon were easing, but that may not be the case. The two companies have been locked in a squabble over the past few months, it ultimately boiling down to YouTube and whether or not Amazon customers will get access to it. Though a resolution seemed likely in light of Amazon's Chromecast listing and Google's most recent statement, a new Amazon trademark filing for "AmazonTube" means the battle is far from over.

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2017 has been a pretty incredible year in terms of first-party Nintendo releases. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey both headlined the major launches for the Switch, and with other titles like Fire Emblem Warriors, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Splatoon 2, Switch owners definitely had a lot to play this year. As always, though, we're looking to what's next for Nintendo's newest console, and if new trademark filings are any indication, it may be Super Smash Bros.

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The animoji is perhaps the most frivolous and most whimsical demonstration of what is actually a pretty complex and sophisticated feature. And yet, it might also become one of the most popular features of the iPhone X. That is, unless this lawsuit manages to mess it all up. A Japanese company is suing Apple over the use its trademark, registered in 2014, alleging that the company was not only aware of the trademark but even tried to buy it off the owners.

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