Sony's Vita Trademark Has Been Partly Revoked In EU Due To Non-Use

On September 1, Sony lost the trademark for "Vita" due to non-use in the EU. Now, the trademark is open to other parties.

According to the Kluwer Trademark Blog, Sony trademarked Vita for a variety of class 9 items, including "data carriers containing programs" and "audio and/or image carriers (not of paper)." In 2011, another company called Vieta Audio applied to have the registration revoked for non-use. Sony presented the PlayStation Vita as evidence that it was still in use.

However, the evidence was rejected by the Cancellation Division and Board of Appeal. The reasoning for this was that the Vita was primarily marketed as a device to play video games, not as some sort of product that held storage capacity.

While the Vita was technically a "data carrier carrying programs" or an "audio and/or images carrier," those weren't the system's main functions; it was gaming.

"The case further highlights that a registered trademark must be used as intended, i.e. to identify the products (or services) of the registration from those of a different origin. This is what Sony was ultimately unable to prove," wrote senior associate Agnieszka Sztoldman in the blog.

Sony has been winding down support for the Vita this year. Earlier, Sony announced that it would be shutting down the Vita digital store, but eventually reversed its decision. Additionally, Sony made it harder to purchase digital content on PS3 and Vita. Last month, the digital stores were updated to no longer accept credit or debit cards, as well as payments methods such as PayPal.