15 Dec 09 Nintendo trademarks “Zii” in Japan, are they trying to block Creative?

I will admit, when the Zii was first revealed, I laughed a little at the name. It sounded like a complete rip-off of the Nintendo Wii. Later, we learned the name was a shortened form for “ZEN II”. Whether that’s true or not, it seems like Nintendo sees enough similarity to do some patenting of their own. On October 30th, they trademarked the word “Zii” which they claim will be used for “video games and other electronic devices”.

There isn’t any proof that Nintendo is actively trying to block Creative from releasing any Zii related products in Japan, but a popular and well-informed gaming blog called Kotaku updated their article on the matter to say this: “Update: Looks like Nintendo is attempting to block the branding of the Zee [sic] EGG in Japan”. Engadget states that this could just be a renewal of a 2006 application where Nintendo also trademarked Cii, Bii, Oii and Yii.

Creative has already trademarked “Zii” in the US, but it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out from here. If Creative wants to release any Zii products in Japan, it’ll likely have to be under a different name.

via epiZENter