design

Myaku Myaku-san♪~Official Character’s Intellectual Property and Secondary Creations~

  • 2025年05月15日
#design #trademark

The Osaka-Kansai Expo has finally opened!
The event will last for six months, including the hot summer months, but we hope everyone will take proper precautions against the heat and enjoy the event to the fullest.

The official character, Myaku Myaku-san♪
With its bold red and blue colors and numerous eye-catching features, the design initially felt a bit eerie, but now that I’ve grown accustomed to it, I find it incredibly cute.
Myaku Myaku merchandise has started appearing in department stores and bookstores. Curious to purchase something as a memento, I looked into it and discovered that capsule figures are available! These are Myaku Myaku figures. I absolutely must have one!!
It seems to have been re-released in April, but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere… Even when I do find it, it’s already sold out.

By the way, the official website for the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo (Official character | Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan Official Website) has guidelines for secondary creations.
Cute characters are irresistible to draw, but in today’s social media age, more people seem to share their creations on social media or support their favorite characters online rather than drawing them on paper and showing them to friends.
However, since secondary creation has some gray areas, having clear guidelines like these allows creators to enjoy their work with peace of mind, and if the works gain popularity, it could also bring significant benefits to the Expo organizers.
When searching for the applicant “Public Interest Incorporated Association 2025 Japan International Exposition Association” on J-PlatPat, five design patents and 60 trademark registrations were found.
The design of Myaku Myaku is protected by three design patents as icon images and plush toys.
Additionally, multiple trademarks related to Myaku Myaku have been filed, including basic illustrations (e.g., No. 6656708) and standard characters such as “ミャクミャク” and “MYAKU-MYAKU,” which are registered across all 45 classes. Trademarks are also fully protected.
I considered drawing Myaku-Myaku and using it as an illustration for this blog, but according to the guidelines, permission is limited to personal social media or blog posts (or individual inquiries may be required), so I decided to give up…
While admiring various Myaku-Myaku designs, I will pray for the success of the Expo and the re-release of the capsule figures! (Cacao)

【Postscript】
After submitting this blog post, I managed to get my hands on the Myaku Myaku capsule figure!! It’s the reverse color version! So cute…
Apparently, a portion of the sales from official licensed products will be used for the Expo.
Thank you so much to Rabbit who found the gacha machine and gave it a spin♪

MYAKU-MYAKU

MYAKU-MYAKU

Household Account App

  • 2025年04月15日
#design #patent

Do you know about household account apps? In the past, keeping a household account meant writing down each expenditure in a dedicated notebook, which was time-consuming and laborious. However, there are now several household account apps that are linked to cashless payment systems. I have been using the Money Forward ME household account app for several years now.

MoneyForward ME

This app can be linked to various electronic payment services such as credit cards, so it saves time and effort when entering data. If you use cash, you can also enter it manually. Except for shops where you can only use cash, I use cashless payment almost all the time, so the amount I spend is automatically registered in the household account app, and it’s convenient because I can easily keep track of how much I spend on what each month.

In fact, many patents and screen designs are involved in these types of apps, and Money Forward’s household account app is also protected by multiple patents, including Japanese Patent No. 6534085, which seems to prevent imitation by other companies.

Recently, the number of people who accumulate points and use the points they have accumulated, called “point activities”, is increasing, and the world is becoming more cashless, so it seems that the number of apps for managing points and income and expenditure will continue to increase in the future. (Chamomile)

Money Forward ME website (Japanese only)

Coleman -THE SUNSHINE OF THE NIGHT-

  • 2024年09月25日
#design #patent #trademark

　Have you heard of Coleman? It is an American outdoor brand (company) that has long been known among campers. I remember using a Coleman gasoline-powered lantern when I was a kid on a camping trip with my family. That lantern lit up the darkness as brightly as daylight. Decades later, Coleman products such as tables and cooking stoves are still in use at the camps I have come to visit with my own children. The photo shows the LP gas cans used for the cooking stove and gas lantern. The white Coleman logo on a red background stands out.

Coleman Lantern Gas

　Research shows that Coleman was founded in Oklahoma around 1900 by William Coffin Coleman. Initially, the company specialized in gasoline-powered lamps, but as electric lighting became more widespread, it developed a gasoline-powered lantern that could be used outdoors, which it began selling in 1914 as the ‘Arc Lantern’. (Wikipedia – Coleman (camping equipment)). Today, a wide range of Coleman products, including tents, are sold in camping supply shops, home improvement centers and online retailers.

　A trademark search on J-PlatPat revealed 136 registered trademarks where the right holder is ‘The Coleman Company Incorporated’. The first registered trademark in Japan (1950), Japanese Trademark Registration No. 387738 (see image), reads ‘THE SUNSHINE OF THE NIGHT’between an illustration of the sun and the Coleman logo letters. Does it refer to a lantern?

Coleman Logo

　Of the 136 registered trademarks, approximately 60 contained the words ‘Coleman’ or ‘コールマン(Coleman in Japanese katakana)’. In addition, there were approximately 100 patent applications and 110 registered designs where the applicant/right holder was Coleman. A large number of intellectual property rights protect Coleman products and services (Hiro).

About nail clippers

  • 2024年09月06日
#design #intellectual property #patent

It’s Swimmer.
The other day, while watching a TV program on new product development failures, I heard a lot of words related to intellectual property, such as ‘patent rights’, ‘infringement’, ‘design rights’, etc. I thought to myself, I usually hear about patents, but in comparison, I don’t hear much about designs.

How to dodge other companies’ intellectual property rights, the hardships of selling new products, and how to strengthen one’s own intellectual property after twists and turns…… were very interesting. I felt that there are more and more opportunities to encounter intellectual property terms even in this kind of variety-style program.

nail clipper

The image shows a nail clipper manufactured by the company featured in the program that has been used in our home for over 40 years. It still cuts very well.

The Yellow and White Paper

  • 2024年08月21日
#design #intellectual property #patent #trademark

My family and I often go to “Kura Sushi” in our neighborhood.
However, it is always crowded, and we often have to wait even if we have a reservation.
One day, when we were waiting in the restaurant to be called as usual, I happened to see a familiar piece of paper displayed in a frame behind the waiting seat where I happened to sit.

a patent certificate and a registration certificate

What a surprise…a patent certificate and a registration certificate Σ(･ω･ﾉ)ﾉ！
I said to my family, “Look! There are patent and registration certificates!” (laugh).
It was the first time I noticed them at Kura Sushi, a place I have visited many times, and I was a little happy to encounter them in such a familiar place.

With 35 patents, 15 designs, and 531 trademarks, you can see that Kura Sushi Co. puts a lot of effort into intellectual property. (Rabbit)

Mattress worth more than the price

  • 2024年06月05日
#design #patent #trademark

　I am considering buying a new bed. There are many factors to consider when choosing a new bed, such as the comfort of the mattress, whether it is firm or soft, and the material it is made of. When I went to Nitori the other day, I found a “Patent Registered” mark on the “N Sleep Luxury Series” mattress.

　A J-PlatPat search for “Nitori Holdings, Inc.” and “mattress” yielded 11 patents (8 of which were valid), 10 designs, and 16 trademarks related to “N Sleep,” the name of the mattress product series.

　At the store, I could lie down without taking off my shoes, and it was fun to try different kinds of products. I also found out that I prefer “firm” sleeping comfort. Since it is something to use for a long time, so I will carefully consider my choice. (Marron)

Nitori N Sleep Mattress Special (Japanese only)
https://www.nitori-net.jp/ec/feature/nsleepmattress/

Nice cookie can

  • 2024年04月19日
#design

It’s me, Swimmer.
I got cookies from a popular confectionery store.

cookie can

I knew there was a line at the department store in Nagoya station in the morning, but I was very happy when I got them because they were an item that I couldn’t buy until much further in advance even if I made a reservation.

The tin cans seem to be very popular these days, and there are websites that sell only the cans, as well as people who buy the goods for the cans that hold them. The cookie can I got from a store this time also has a very elegant design using letters, and the cookies are delicious. I am thinking about what I will use it for after I finish eating them.

The tinplate often used for cookie can is made by covering the surface of a steel plate with tin. Tin has long been used for toys and food products because it is less susceptible to corrosion than iron.
We are happy to be able to eat delicious sweets thanks to the wisdom of our ancestors.

Café Tanaka Website (Japanese only)
Tinning – Wikipedia

Shisa Day

  • 2024年04月03日
#design #trademark

April 3 is Shisa Day because of the Japanese syllabary that reads “Shi” (4) and “Sa” (3).
The name “Shisa” is pronounced “shishi(lion)” in Okinawan dialect, and it is said that Shisa has the meaning of driving away evil spirits.

When I visited Okinawa last year on a family vacation, I saw Shisa in many places.
The most impressive shisa was the “Tsuboya Ufu Shisa” near our hotel. “Ufu” means “big” or “large” in Okinawan dialect.

Tsuboya Ufu Shisa (Tsuboya Big Shisa)

A search of J-Plat Pat for items related to the Shisa in the intellectual property field yielded 33 hits for designs related to Shisa figurines and 12 hits for the trademark “Shisa”.(Rabbit)

Kids Design Award

  • 2023年11月01日
#design #invention #patent #trademark

The other day, while using the Internet, I came across the term “Kids Design Award”. Somehow I thought it might be related to design, so I read the article “Kids Design Award for ‘Eye Care Clip’ to Control Children’s Myopia“.

The Kids Design Award is an award system for products, services, spaces, activities, and research that fulfill the objectives of “living safely,”, “nurturing sensitivity and creativity,” and “creating a society where it is easy to have and raise children.”. With the aim of disseminating this information to society at large, it appears that in addition to designs for children, designs developed for adults and the general public are also eligible as long as they are child and child-rearing friendly.

Kids Design Award

The “Eye Care Clip” introduced in the article is a product developed by Clear Electronic Co., Ltd. in Tokyo I searched J-Plat Pat to see if the company had also owned patent and registered design, and found, as expected, 2 Japanese Patent applications, 4 Japanese Designs registrations, and 18 Japanese trademark applications.

Also, “Kids Design Award＼KIDS DESIGN AWARD” was registered as a trademark. (Japanese Trademark registration No. 5010693, right holder: Non-profit organization Kids Design Association)

I was interested in the Kids Design Award because I felt that the award and intellectual property are a bit similar.
It would be nice to enrich our lives with useful inventions for children and families raising children. (Rabbit)

Kids Design Award (website) https://kidsdesignaward.jp/

Biore Sound Trademark and Design

  • 2023年06月28日
#design #trademark

　Biore has a sound trademark. The designated products are soaps and cosmetics.
　Biore is a face and body care brand of Kao Corporation.

Biore Sound Trademark

　Related products of the Bioré brand include body wash, foam hand soap, and skin care products.
　I recently purchased Biore-u’s paw pad-shaped foaming hand soap. Unlike the regular pump dispenser, which dispenses bubbles horizontally from a single opening, the paw pad type hand soap has a pump dispenser that dispenses bubbles vertically upward from several openings. The shape of the pump dispenser was so striking and eccentric that it was registered as a design.

　In the past, when using foam hand soap, one used both hands to wash one’s hands, pushing the pump with the right hand and picking up the foam hand soap with the left hand. However, with the paw pad-type foam hand soap, I can pick up the foam hand soap with one hand and wash my hands with it. It is very convenient, and I think it is good not only in terms of functionality but also in terms of hygiene.

Biore-u's paw pad-shaped foaming hand soap Biore-u's paw pad-shaped foaming hand soap

　I thought it was a product for which not only the character trademark but also the sound trademark and the design were protected and utilized in a multifaceted way to further enhance the brand power and protect and utilize intellectual property. (Raspberry)

Japanese Sound Trademark Registration number : No. 5805052｜J-PlatPat
Japanese Design Registration number : No. 1710004｜J-PlatPat

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