Germans and the Polar bear trade marks

CATCH US IF YOU CAN !!!: Birgit Clark

Some of you may recall the heartbreaking story of the little polar bear cub “Knut”, who was born at the end of 2006. Knut had to be hand-reared by his keeper Thomas and became a celebrity after being rescued when his mother rejected him. The story seems to repeat itself at the Nuremberg zoo, where in January 2008 Germany’s latest celebrity polar bear cub “Flocke” (snow flake) was taken from its mother amid concerns she could kill the newborn. The bear’s keeper initially nicknamed the cub “Flocke”, which was also reported in the media. However, the bear was only officially named “Flocke” by the city of Nuremberg on 18 January 2008 after a “public consultation”.

The polar bear cub “madness” had an interesting effect on trade mark applications filed at the German Patent and Trade mark Office. A quick search for the respective names “Knut” and “Flocke” reveals that 23 trade mark application were filed relating to “Knut” from 1 January 2007 to 4 February 2008, and 14 applications relating to “Flocke”. The first application to protect “Flocke” as a German trade mark was filed on 10 January 2008 in the name of a German lawyer. The city of Nuremberg filed its application on 16 January 2008, two days before going public with the result of the public name consultation.

As per today’s date, that is 26 February 2008, the number of Flocke applications on the German register has risen to 34 applications. It does not come as much of a surprise that it is not only the respective zoos in Berlin and Nuremberg that have filed applications, as this appears too good an opportunity to cash in on Germany’s growing love for polar cubs.

The number of “Flocke” trade mark applications is only chapter one…

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