Some of you may recall the heartbreaking story of the little polar bear cub "Knut", who was born at the end of 2006. Knut had to be hand-reared by his keeper Thomas and became a celebrity after being rescued when his mother rejected him. The story seems to repeat itself at the Nuremberg zoo, where in January 2008 Germany's latest celebrity polar bear cub "Flocke" (snow flake) was taken from its mother amid concerns she could kill the newborn, after keepers saw mother bear Vera carrying the cub around in her jaws and tossing it around.

The reason for posting this on Class 46 is that the polar bear cub "madness" has now had an interesting effect on trade mark applications filed at the German Patent and Trade mark Office DPMA. A quick search for the respective names "Knut" and "Flocke" reveals that 23 trade mark application have been filed relating to "Knut" since 1 January 2007, and 14 applications relating to "Flocke", with the number of applications still rising.

Knut marks on the German trade marks register

Flocke trade marks on the German trade marks register

It does not come as much of a surprise that it is not only the respective zoos in Berlin and Nuremberg that have filed applications, as this appears too good an opportunity to cash in on Germany's growing love for polar cubs. More information on Flocke can be found here. More information on Knut's well being can be retrieved from "Knut's blog". For updates on "Flocke" trade marks, please visit our fellow blog Markenblog.de who keeps a vigilant eye on the latest developments [in German].