The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

BT jumps gun on i-mode trademark

Registers a dozen versions of Japanese brand in UK

  • print
  • alert

Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery

BT has been busy squirreling away trademarks in preparation for Japanese telecoms giant NTT DoCoMo's debut in Europe next year.

According to Silicon.com, the cheeky telco has registered 12 versions of the trademark i-mode - which is the brand of NTT DoCoMo's Net-enabled mobile phone system - with the UK patent office. This is rather premature as BT has not yet won the right to use the name.

Big bad BT may be trying to spoil the Japanese company's launch in the UK and Europe, or maybe it wants to steal the name to start its own service under the brand. i-mode has really taken off in Japan - last month the company said it expected 20 million i-mode subscriptions by March. Whereas rival WAP has received a more lukewarm response.

Another possibility is that the two are planning to team up to roll out the UK venture together. ®

Related Stories

DoCoMo's i-mode enjoys 20-fold sales leap
BT strong-armed to offer wholesale leased lines
Monster BT bill man gets reprieve
BT launches US hyperlinks legal action
i-mode to roam into US, Europe Q3 2001
i-mode goes down again

Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime

More from The Register

 breaking news
BBC-featured call centre slapped with hefty fine for unwanted calls
PPI pests: Swansea-based firm stung for £225k by ICO
Microsoft to open Windows Stores inside 600 Best Buy locations
Product showcases 'must be seen to be believed'
 breaking news
What did the Lehman Brothers implosion look like to a techie?
Insider tells all about the Gnab Gib at Lehmans
 breaking news
The only Waze is Google: Ad giant tipped to gobble map app 'for $1.3bn'
Pac-Man-satnav-ish upstart in bidding war with Apple, Facebook
 breaking news
1-in-10 e-tomes 'are self-published'... most are 'rubbish' says book ed
Publishing man scoffs at go-it-alone writers, ursines still fouling in forests
 breaking news
Facebook RSS reader said to uncloak June 20
Secret event scooped by Scottish developer?
 breaking news
O2 averts strike action over mass Capita outsourcing deal
Details of new agreement not yet released