Julian Assange applied for a trademark - Julian Assange™

WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange wants to register his name as a trademark. He has filed his application at the UK intellectual property office.

The application for the trademark Julian Assange™ lists the following goods or services: Public speaking services; news reporter services; journalism; publication of texts other than publicity texts; education services; entertainment services.

Interesting enough, Assange lists the UK as his residence country. Well, if Swedish prosecutors have their way, the Australian-born WikiLeaker will have to change that to Sweden. The Nordic country has requested his extradition in order to interrogate him with regard to allegations of sexual misconduct. British courts have already granted the Swedish request. Assange is appealing the ruling at London's High Court.

The application for the entertainment services trademark has been labeled "bizarre" by David Allen Green of the London law firm Preiskel and Co. he said: ‘It's a bizarre thing for someone associated with freedom of information to do."

Mark Stephens, Assange’s lawyer, emphasized that the application was made in a “not-for-profit” category, stating: "It's not about restricting free speech. It's not that he's out there trying to make huge amounts of money. It's about protecting himself from being associated with things he doesn't know about or approve of."

However, it is highly unlikely somebody else would pretend to be Julian Assange. Only then would protecting Julian Assange™ make sense.

Provided that nobody contests Assange™'s trademark application, it could be granted as soon as May 4, 2011.

(Image courtesy of by Marian Avramescu)

Judge in the Netherlands halts import of PlayStations

The Japanese electronics giant Sony announced that a large shipment of PlayStations 3 (PS3) has been stopped at the Dutch Port of Rotterdam due to an injunction order of the Dutch Court of The Hague. According to a spokesperson of Sony, the Dutch court has halted a shipment of ten thousands of these products since February. The reason is a complaint from the South Korean company LG Electronics. The spokesperson refused to go into details.

The Netherlands are a major European import hub for Sony, serving as a gateway to Europe. A spokesperson of LG Electronics stated that there is currently a case against Sony at the International Trade Commission in the US. It involves the patent on a technical part (the Blu-ray technology) of the PlayStation 3. The spokesperson went on to state that he did not have any information about the case against Sony in the Netherlands. He went on to emphasize that it is LG’s policy not to comment on any current court cases.

The injunction is by law for 10 days. The current stock of Sony’s PlayStation 3 will last for several weeks. Sony will quite likely opt for other ways to export to Europe.

Should LG be successful with its claim then Sony would be forced to pay LG royalties fo each PlayStation 3 console sold. There are currently around 50 million Play Stations sold containing Blu-ray technology.