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Subject ¡®LOHAS¡¯ is hot in trademark registration!!
No 49 Name IP_Park Date 2006/07/21 15:24:30 Homepage http://www.ippark.com
 
253 applications from 2004 to June 2006 -  
¡°LOHAS, LOHAS VILLE, SAMSUNG LOHAS, LOHAS USELL¡¦¡±

LOHAS stands for the ¡®Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability.¡¯ In short, it means the social well being of people. As the trend to LOHAS increases, more companies are willing to use this term in their trademarks to appeal to consumers.  

According to KIPO, trademarks related to LOHAS (including service names) were first filed in February 2004. Since then, 51 applications were filed in 2004, 128 in 2005 (2.5 times the previous year), and 74 through April, 2006. In total, 253 applications have been filed related to LOHAS.
  
- Looking at the application trend of each field:  
Among the total of 173 trademark applications, 64 applications (37.0%) were filed for agricultural products/stock farm products/foods/beverages, as interest in organic foods grows. 22 applications (12.7%) were filed for home appliance/kitchen products and 17 applications (9.8%) were filed for cosmetics/detergents.  

Among the total of 80 service name applications, 26 applications (32.5%) were filed for construction/real estate services, following customers¡¯ preference for environmentally friendly living space. 18 applications (22.5%) were filed for restaurants/lodging service, and 10 applications (12.5%) were filed for entertainment service.  

- The companies with the most applications were Samsung Corporation and Samsung Electronics.  In March this year, the companies filed 57 applications including ¡®Samsung LOHAS¡¯ for home appliances. Lohas Hill Co Ltd had 19 applications for agricultural products/beverages including ¡®LOHAS Hill.¡¯ Nongshim Co Ltd filed 14 applications for snacks including ¡®LOHAS Ville¡¯; Woobang Housing Co Ltd filed 6 applications for construction services including ¡®LOHAS Usell¡¯, and GMF Co Ltd filed 5 applications for health & functional foods including ¡®LOHAS.¡¯  
The reason for such strong increases in trademark applications lies in the customers¡¯ trend of pursuing personal happiness harmonized with the society and the environment. To align with these preferences, companies are establishing marketing strategies to apply for related trademarks.  

An expert from KIPO commented, ¡°The term ¡®LOHAS¡¯ must be combined with a unique name that can be registered. The term alone already has a meaning of ¡®environmentally friendly product¡¯. It cannot be registered under the Trademark Law because it directly means the quality of product. Applicants who are willing to apply for trademarks must be aware of this.¡±  
 
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