HP defends its mark in South Korea

The Digital Chosun (South Korea) is reporting that Hewlett-Packard Co. has brought suit against ReignCom Ltd. for trademark infringement. Why you might ask? Turns out that ReignCom is selling a digital music player called- "iHP." Strangely enough, according to the article, Hewlett-Packard (commonly known as "HP") claims that ReignCom has "appropriated HP's internationally renowned trademark of "HP." (I like to use sarcasm)

According to the article, ReignCom is widely known for its best-selling "iRiver" MP3 and CD players. For the life of me, I cannot imagine why ReignCom would try using the mark "iHP," since they do not appear to have any legitimate use to the letters "H" and "P," when used together in a close manner. Perhaps (and I'm just wildly speculating now) in Korean the "R" is an "H" and the "C" is an "P" (thus ReignCom abbreviated RC becomes HP). I'm stretching it, but I am flabbergasted that they would want to use this mark, which is sure to bring the attention of HP- especially since HP unveiled in January 2004 that they were selling an HP-branded version of the iPod.

Sounds like ReignCom made a bad business call. This is why it is quite important, when launching a new mark (company name, product name, etc), to make sure you conduct extensive trademark searches within your country, and abroad. Sometimes you can limit it to just your own country, but I cannot stress how many of these trademark infringement matters discussed here can be avoided by conducting trademark searches and following the recommendations of the attorney that conducts the search. Now for the shameless plug- I conduct these trademark searches all the time, so if you need one, please contact me.