Tokyo, Apr 16: Sony has withdrawn an application with the US patent office to register "shock and awe" -- a phrase used for the US military campaign in Iraq -- as a trademark for the title of a future video game, officials said today. "As of Wednesday, we withdrew our application following our conclusion that the action was inappropriate and lacked consideration," said a spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), the video game unit of Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp. Sony Computer Entertainment America, a subsidiary of SCE, filed the trademark application in March in an attempt to use the phrase on a product. "But the parent company here did not know about the fact until April 11," the spokeswoman said, adding that the US unit, however, had no concrete plan to produce computer game software with the trademark title. SCE said on its website, "It was an exercise of regrettable bad judgment in that it disregarded the context in which the term has been used. Steps will be taken to heighten awareness throughout the Sony group so as not to repeat such issues."
Bureau Report