Monthly Archives: August 2021

I searched for trademarks on rice. I found a registered trademark on the packaging of “Koshihikari”.
It seems that Koshihikari rice from Niigata is milled in Aichi prefecture.

The character trademark of “パールライス(Pearl Rice)” was registered on June 10, 1976 as Japanese trademark registration No. 1204268 of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations.

The combined trademark of the letters and figurative elements of “Pearl Rice” was registered on August 11, 2020 as Japanese trademark registration No. 6278960 of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations.

The “MOG” trademark was registered on May 22, 2009 as Japanese trademark registration No. 5231789 of the Aichi Prefectural Federation of Economic and Agricultural Cooperatives.

The trademark “日本全国よりすぐり。＼お米の国から(Highly selected from all over Japan, the country of rice)” was registered on February 25, 2020 as Japanese trademark registration No. 6229072 of the Aichi Prefectural Federation of Economic and Agricultural Cooperatives.

Even if the package design does not mention it as a registered trademark, I thought that many brands, graphics, and catchphrases were registered as trademarks.
(Raspberry)

It’s been hot days when the temperature doesn’t drop even in the evening.

It feels like the culture of watching the setting sun and enjoying the cool evening has been lost in Japan today and more like a world apart.

However, when it gets dark and night begins, Cygnus (or the Swan constellation) shows the unchanged appearance with its wings spread and flies from north to south along the Milky Way.

I found a sweet package with a cute summer night sky as a motif, so I will introduce it for eye candy.

”Natsuno Seiya” by Minokame Co., Ltd.

Minokame Co., Ltd.is a Okaki (Japanese rice cracker) maker in Nagoya, and the logo “Minokame” is registered as a trademark.

Japanese trademark registration number: No. 3107725
Registration date: December 26, 1995
(Time)

Hi, I’m Hiro.
My children often play with a toy called “MAGNA-TILES”.

Each side of the square or triangular plate has a magnet, and by attaching the sides together, you can make various shapes, flat or three-dimensional. The magnetism is not too strong and not too weak, but just the right strength so that even children with weak hands can easily attach and remove the magnets.

On the right side of “MAGNA-TILES” on the package, there is a mark (circled R) indicating a registered trademark.

Since “MAGNA-TILES” is a U.S. product, I checked the USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System) and found several registrations for the character trademark “MAGNA-TILES” (US Registration numbers: 2654320, 5622354, 6247284, 6323690).

Of these, the one with the registration number 2654320 was registered for “Manipulative toys, namely, blocks and puzzles” as Designated Goods and Services, with an application date of February 6, 2002 and a registration date of November 26, 2002. The current owner of the trademark is MVW HOLDINGS, INC.

“I checked J-PlatPat to see if “MAGNA-TILES” was registered as a trademark in Japan, and found that it was registered under Japanese Registration number 5816110. The designated goods or services here are “educational toys, block toys, building blocks (toys),” with the application date is July 2, 2015, the registration date is December 25, 2015, and the trademark holder is People Corporation (Tokyo, Chuo-ku).

Further research revealed that MAGNA-TILES is the U.S. version of an educational toy called Pythagoras, which People Corporation began selling in Japan in 1992 (MVW (formerly Valtech) began selling it in 1997) (People Corporation: ピタゴラスとは？)

The trademark “Pythagoras(ピタゴラス)” was applied for in Japan by People Corporation, Ltd. on December 25, 1991, and registered on May 31, 1995 (Japanese Registration number: No. 2707566).