First UK multimedia mark granted by UKIPO

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has granted the first multimedia trademark under recently revised trademark laws.

The trademark was registered by Japanese technology company Toshiba.

The UK updated its trademark guidelines at the start of the year as part of the 2015 Trademarks Directive.

The milestone trademark shows Toshiba’s logo dramatically zooming out with several multi-coloured polygons representing Origami appearing and disappearing around it. The trademark was created to “reflect the Toshiba brand”, according to an official release.

The company’s head of communications for its European operations, Matt McDowell, said the company is “thrilled and honoured” to have received the first multimedia mark in the UK.

McDowell added: “The Toshiba brand is synonymous with innovation and reliability and this initiative further demonstrates that our brand identity guides the business in both our communications and our behaviours in delivering our brand promise.”

“As a forward-looking and entrepreneurial company, we have developed a new brand identity that provides a strong and consistent framework for all communication. This is more than just a refreshed logo. Our communication strategy is a content centric, digital first strategy, and because of this, we believed it was essential to trademark all aspects of the brand, including our motion mark.”

Tim Moss, UKIPO CEO, said: “Trademarks are likely to become increasingly innovative in the digital age, as organisations explore imaginative ways of reflecting their distinctive brand personalities using creative IP.”

“Under the amended trademark law, submission of motion marks, hologram trademarks and sound marks via multimedia format now enables examiners to see exactly what the creator of the mark intended.”