Sony Applies for US Trademark Registration of ‘8K HDR’ Logo, PTO Records Show

Sony applied Oct. 6 to register a black and gold “8K HDR” logo as a U.S. trademark, Patent and Trademark Office records show. The logo “consists of a gold hexagon with 8K appearing within a black five-sided polygon in the upper half in stylized gold type and HDR appearing in stylized black type in the bottom half,” said the filing (serial number 87636915), which lists no foreign-equivalent application. Our search of the EU Intellectual Property Office’s database yielded no hits for “8K HDR,” nor could we find an application filed with trademark authorities in Japan, where NHK is working with Sony and other tech companies to prepare for the debut of 8K Super Hi-Vision broadcasts in time for the July 2020 Tokyo Olympics (see 1709150056). In its colors and typefaces, the 8K HDR logo is a direct adaptation of the square-shaped “4K HDR” logo that Sony introduced in January 2016 (see 1601060049). Sony, though a UHD Alliance founding member, since has shunned the alliance’s Ultra HD Premium logo unveiled at the same CES (see 1601030003), instead trumpeting its own 4K HDR logo to signify that its sets meet CTA’s “voluntary guidelines” on high-dynamic-range compatibility released in August 2015 (see 1508270058). Sony representatives didn’t comment Monday on commercial plans to use the 8K HDR logo.