While we are waiting for the outcome of the Nuremberg "Flocke" court case, a brief check of the official register reveals that the polar bear trade mark mania is far from over. To date 41 "Flocke" trade mark applications have been filed at the DPMA, the German Patent and Trade Mark Office. The latest additions include trade mark applications for "Flocke Edition", "Flocke & Knut" and "Knut & Flocke".

Let's see how long it will take until the first trade mark applications for Stuttgart's "Wilbaer", the latest polar bear baby born in a German zoo, will be found on the official register...

UPDATE: AP quotes Stuttgart's zoo director Dieter Jauch, who...

"... pointed to the media frenzy that surrounded Knut last year as the reason the zoo so far kept Wilbaer's birth under wraps. 'We are not out for the big money,' he said. However, he added that the zoo has had his name — a combination of the zoo's name [Wilhema] and the German for bear, 'Baer' — registered as a trade mark."