Just a quick update about the people I've contacted about ongoing processes:
- Jerald E. Nagae, Nintendo's IP correspondent in USA, of Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness has not replied to my inquiry about the suspension letter Nintendo received from the USPTO on the 11th of January. The trademark's status remains like this: An Office action suspending further action on the application has been sent (issued) to the applicant.
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=85393173
- Grünecker, Kinkeldey, Stockmair & Schwanhäusser, Nintendo's IP correspondent in Europe, has not replied to my inquiry about the opposition made by Information Technology Junction Limited on the trade mark (word mark) Wii U (number 010377331 via OHIM) on grounds of "Unfair advantage /detriment to distinctiveness or repute".
http://esearch.oami.europa.eu/copla/trademark/data/010377331/print
In the USA, Nintendo has applied for sixteen trade marks for Wii U, eight word marks and eight stylized marks (logos). In Europe, Nintendo has applied for two trade marks for Wii U, one word mark and two stylized marks (logos). And in Japan, Nintendo has applied for eleven trade marks for Wii U, five word marks and six stylized marks (logos). Japan is the only country where Nintendo has the Wii U trade mark registered, with one word mark and one stylized mark (a monochrome Wii U logo). While I don't know much about trade mark law in Japan, in the US it's something like this:
Registration with the USPTO is not required for a trademark to be protected, but it does give some benefits such as the holder/registering partner being given right to use the mark nationwide and having full records for other to search to see who owns the particular trademark. Registration also enables the party to bring an infringement suit in (federal) court. And most importantly, a trade mark can after five years of registration become incontestable, whereas the exclusive rights to use the mark is definitively established.
Nintendo should in theory be able to at least in Japan bring out the console right now, though with limited marketing opportunities. But it wouldn't make sense, as the days where you could launch a system nearly a year, or more, in one region over others are over. This delay of action could have something to do with the opposition by Information Technology Junction Limited on the 27th of January. However, that company is relatively small and deals with labour recruitment and technical consulting for architects (nothing to do with Wii U), so it shouldn't be difficult for Nintendo of Europe's legal department and combat them. So I wonder what's this hold-up is all about.
Maybe they are interested in calling the system Wii U in Japan whilst in other regions call it something different. Like how Sega called it's 16-bit system Genesis in the USA and Mega Drive in Europe. Though this would probably confuse consumers even more. I'm intrigued to know more about Nintendo's actions on this before GDC.