SECAUCUS, NJ, April 1, 2007 - Panasonic Communications Co., Ltd. has confirmed published reports that it will be seeking royalty payments, or injunctions to stop other companies from using the term "VoIP®," which has been a registered trademark of the international electronics firm for over 30 years.
According to Kunio Watanabe, Panasonic Executive Vice President for Legal Affairs, "in 1973, there were discussions about expanding Panasonic's US headquarters, then in the PanAm Building in Manhattan, to become Panasonic's world headquarters. We considered buying the building, and changing the sign on the rooftop from PanAm to Panasonic." "Although the building was sold to MetLife instead of to us, and corporate headquarters remained in Japan," Watanabe continued, "we did develop a promotional plan to establish the New York City operation as the "Voice of International Panasonic." The term "VoIP"® was registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1974, and has been renewed and kept current." "The VoIP® trademark," Watanabe emphasized, "is valuable Panasonic intellectual property, and is becoming more valuable every day. We can prove that Panasonic is the original VoIP® company. With the introduction of our new Globarange VoIP® phones and service, and our previously introduced VoIP®-enabled KX-TDA business phone systems, we won't stand idly by while other companies compete with us, while using our registered trademark. We are initially targeting 34 companies -- including AT&T, Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Avaya, Uniden, Skype, and Vonage -- who offer alleged VoIP® services and products. We will offer them a choice of purchasing a license for the use of our trademark, or to develop their own terminology.” “Over 60 years ago,” Watanabe concluded, “the Radio Corporation of America developed an audio connector that became known as the RCA jack. Hundreds of companies have been able to sell countless millions of items called RCA jacks and plugs, with no financial benefit to RCA. Panasonic will not let that happen with our VoIP®.” Later this month, Panasonic will launch a "First with VoIP®" multimedia marketing campaign to promote its new Globarange phones and free worldwide calling service, developed to use the “joip” service of New York-based VoIP® service provider deltathree, Inc. Deltathree is the first company to be licensed by Panasonic to use the VoIP® registered trademark. Globarange phones are hybrid two-line 5.8GHz DECT cordless phones, supporting both landline and joip-powered VoIP® services. _________________________________________________________________ KX-T Mailing list --- http://kxthelp.com/ Subscription changes: http://kxthelp.com/mailman/listinfo/kxt
