So the trilogue is agreed: the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, otherwise known as OHIM or, to the in-crowd, OAMI, is to be re-branded (on which, see last night's Katpost
here). The chosen replacement for this
sesquipedalian monstrosity (47 characters, inclusive of spaces) is to be the nearly-as-sesquipedalian European Union Intellectual Property Office (43 characters, inclusive of spaces). For those who love brevity, IP Australia takes some beating, but IP EU was never likely to be.
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| The search for the Lost City of Alicante ... |
It's probably too late to persuade Europe's finest to change their minds, but this Kat is convinced that his talented readers, many of whom are deeply involved in branding and marketing issues, could have come up with something less boringly descriptive and certainly less long-winded than "European Union Intellectual Property Office". He therefore invites them to submit their improvements. This Kat also thinks that it would be fun to design a new logo to represent the deeper meaning of the European Union Intellectual Property Office, this being an IP office which (i) is by the seaside, (ii) just can't stop making money, (iii) operates in five official languages and (iv) unlike most other IP offices, has nothing to do with the oldest and most expensive IP right, the patent.
Do please send your suggested logos for the rebranded office to the IPKat at
theipkat@gmail.com, ideally as .jpg or .png documents so that he can edit them if need be, or at least in a format that doesn't send his computer into spasms or stun it into total inertia. The best entries will be posted on this weblog (so can we have an irrevocable non-exclusive licence for that purpose, please?) and a small, as yet unspecified prize will be offered for the best entry. Closing date for entries is close of play,
Sunday 3 May. It might be a pint of Badger at The Old Nick or, if it turns out to be cheaper, a flight to Alicante with Ryanair ...
