Hulu finally announced its name today after a five month wait. Unfortunately, the name, which has some translation issues, may not have been researched properly before the final decision was made.
Now a quick perusal of the company’s trademark application shows very aggressive and somewhat ridiculous merchandising plans. And the Hulu mission statement is eerily similar to Google’s.
Trademark Application: Here come panty hose, modeling clay and coin purses
The parent company behind the Hulu joint venture, N-F NewSite, LLC, filed a U.S. trademark application (this is an image capture, you can search for the trademark on USPTO.gov but links time out) on August 22 for the term “Hulu”. Trademarks only apply to businesses that companies actually engage in, which means that others can use the trademarked name in unrelated businesses.
To keep things as narrow as possible, trademark applicants must have a good faith intent to use the trademark on all goods and services listed in the application. If it’s too broad, the application can be thrown out.
So a quick look at the trademark application for Hulu suggests the company plans on engaging in a pretty aggressive Disney-like merchandising strategy. Goods and services included in the application go way beyond showing video and advertising and include such things as selling Hulu-branded panty hose, modeling clay, coin purses and scores of other items.
Hulu’s Mission Statement: Take Google, apply Thesaurus and add “premier”.
Hulu’s mission statement sure rang a bell when I read it earlier today. And in fact is nearly identical to Google’s:
- “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
- Hulu’s mission “is to help you find and enjoy the world’s premier content when, where and how you want it.”
Those look pretty damned similar to me. I wonder how much they paid the consultants to come up with it.