Every week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office publishes a Gazette full of trademark applications that it has "allowed." This means that the marks will be registered as requested unless someone steps in to oppose the registration within the 30-day period following the publication. Keeping an eye on this Gazette (or having your attorney do so) is a great way to proactively protect your brand from encroaching infringers.
It's also a fascinating window into the development of commercial identities--especially if you narrow your search to a particular industry. I've previously published a snapshot of then-recent augmented reality marks. Here are a few of the more interesting VR-related marks in the most recent Gazette:
Dman Productions, LLC in Florida has applied to register this guy in a whole mess of categories, including "LIVE ENTERTAINMENT SHOWS IN THE NATURE OF 3-D VIRTUAL REALITY MEDIA." Look out behind you -- Mr. Happy Golf Ball (not his actual name, as far as I know) is coming your way.
Sidehatch Studios LLC in Oakland, California has applied to register kindvr for use with "downloadable virtual reality software for use in healthcare for lowering patient pain levels." That sounds like a great use case for VR, and is similar to ideas discussed during my health care panel at Augmented World Expo 2015.
ARTEMIS and ARTEMIS NETWORKS are marks that a San Francisco mobile technology startup by the same name seeks to use in connection with "augmented reality, virtual reality or visual interfaces, dongles, wearable computers," among many other goods and services. It's always exciting to see new AR/VR hardware in the works--especially from a company already working on making the mobile internet a thousand times faster than 4G.
Speaking of hardware, Merge Labs, Inc. of San Antonio, Texas has applied to register the tagline "ANY PHONE, ANY FACE" for use with "virtual reality headsets and helmets adapted for use in playing video games." That sounds interesting.
NEOVERSE is a mark that Joseph E. Crotchett in Austin, Texas seeks to use in connection with "virtual reality software for enabling transmission, access, organization, and management of text messaging, instant messaging, text, weblinks, images, and video via the Internet and other communications networks," among other things.
HUNT: HORRORS OF THE GILDED AGE is the name of a video game coming from the German company Crytek. They have also applied to register that name as a trademark for "virtual reality game software," among other things.
