Boris Posted November 20, 2023 Report Share Posted November 20, 2023 Back before Towers II was released, I noticed that Somgbird had changed to logo on the game's boxart in one of the newsletters to "AJAX64". I thought that was odd, so I asked Carl about it and he said that he was not planning on releasing that game under the Jaguar logo. Hm, strange decision, I thought back then. And I was not the only one, as at least over on AA, people started asking about it. Then, some months later, a new logo appeared on the next newsletter (and thankfully so, to be honest, because the "Fire Jaguar logo" looks waaay better than AJAX, which is a cleaning product over here in Europe). And then even some time later, Songbird announced that they would not be using the Jaguar logo at all anymore, the same goes for the Lynx one. The recent sale over at his store underlines that again. So from everything that can be read online, it seems someone forced Carl's hand to change the Jaguar logo on the games he publishes. However, nowhere (as far as I've seen) can be read more about why exactly this is happening. I mean I can guess that it's probably Atari who are behind this, but this is nothing more than a guess. Are they interested in the Jaguar logo again all of a sudden? Do they want AA to be the only store to sell games with the official Jag logo? What exactly is going on and are they planning more with that logo? Hasn't the trademark expired long ago? Does anyone know more specifics about all this? Justin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_J64bit Posted November 20, 2023 Report Share Posted November 20, 2023 (edited) Here some more info about the new logos. I think that Atari has something to do with it. https://songbird-productions.com/2023/11/17/rebranding-update/ Edited November 20, 2023 by walter_J64bit Boris and Justin 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted November 20, 2023 Report Share Posted November 20, 2023 3 hours ago, Boris said: Does anyone know more specifics about all this? Yes, In the United States, the "ATARI JAGUAR" trademark is Live once again for section 028 Goods and Services, namely Video game consoles, with the applicant Atari Interactive, Inc. having filed for the trademark on May 3, 2021 and published for opposition on December 14, 2021. Previously, the trademark had been filed on April 20, 1992, published for opposition on November 23, 1993 and abandoned on September 12, 1996. https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=74267605&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch Boris 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted November 20, 2023 Report Share Posted November 20, 2023 Likewise, many other Atari trademarks have recently been applied for: Atari 2600 https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=97770430&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch Atari 5200 https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=98135319&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch Atari 7800 https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=98135300&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch Atari Lynx https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=90681899&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch Atari 400 https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=98135267&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch Atari 800 https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=98146971&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch Atari VCS https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=88072195&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch No results found for "Atari XL" or "Atari XE" Boris 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted November 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2023 Thank you very much guys! Interesting. In the link to Songbird, they do not state any reasons, but oh well, as the sale is still ongoing, I got myself a copy of Total Carnage while I'm at it and hope it will be the one with the old logo 🙂 . Speaking of the logo and trademark: Yes, seems like Atari trademarked this one, but only as "word mark" and "STANDARD CHARACTER MARK", which basically means plain text, and only this combination: "Atari Jaguar". So the "Jaguar" logo itself without connection to anything else would still be fine to use, unless they did additionally secure a trademark for that as well. That being said, the entry makes it even more likely that Atari contacted Songbird and kindly asked to not longer use the logo on their products anymore. And I guess because he did not want to go through the effort of legally challenging them and maybe even because wants to maintain a good relationship, he agreed. Seems there was some negotiation going on in the background, as he is able to sell off his existing stock, which is nice. But honestly, Atari should have trademarked the "word and design mark" for Jaguar instead of the plain text. That would not have been that much more expensive, but hey: Guess they are certain nobody will challenge them anyway about a logo for a conosle next to noone cares about (and I mean that not in a bad way, but with regard to target audiences). And all that being said, if I were in Atari's place, I would be very interested in snapping up Songbird as well, as Carl has secured some interesting Jaguar licenses over the years, and certainly some more interesting stuff for future releases. Justin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted November 20, 2023 Report Share Posted November 20, 2023 In the United States, having the word "Atari Jaguar" on a good pertaining to a video game console is enough for Atari to need to protect, aside from the design of the logo itself. It's possible the Jaguar logo is also being applied for but may not be necessary. A deeper search could show more. Boris 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_J64bit Posted November 20, 2023 Report Share Posted November 20, 2023 Songbird might have to start using the Jag carts that doesn't have the Atari Fuji on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted November 20, 2023 Report Share Posted November 20, 2023 Personally, I like the new logos that they chose for the Lynx and the Jaguar. Since the goal is to avoid problems with Atari, I can see there should be no issue with those logos. Quote 🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted November 21, 2023 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2023 Absolutely, especially the new "Fire Jaguar" looks pretty good. Make Songbird's releases stand out even more in a collection. Just was wondering what was behind all this. And next up might be Piko Interactive then as well, as their releases sported the Jag logo too (so far). Just noticed that only Switchblade II for the Jag can be found on their shop, with the boxart showing the logo. Did not preorder this one, but will be interesting to see what they'll do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_J64bit Posted November 21, 2023 Report Share Posted November 21, 2023 Other Jag game devs should do the same and not use the Jaguar logo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted November 21, 2023 Report Share Posted November 21, 2023 I agree but I suppose they each will need to develop new logos. Quote 🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted November 22, 2023 Report Share Posted November 22, 2023 On 11/21/2023 at 2:53 AM, Boris said: Absolutely, especially the new "Fire Jaguar" looks pretty good. Make Songbird's releases stand out even more in a collection. Just was wondering what was behind all this. And next up might be Piko Interactive then as well, as their releases sported the Jag logo too (so far). Just noticed that only Switchblade II for the Jag can be found on their shop, with the boxart showing the logo. Did not preorder this one, but will be interesting to see what they'll do. The interesting thing is, even with the new Atari protecting their trademarks, that doesn't necessarily mean Songbird has to create a new logo for their Jaguar and Lynx cartridges. It can still have the box art on the cartridge label and simply say "Compatible with Atari Jaguar interactive multimedia video game systems" etc. Boris 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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