Quite some time has passed since the end of the football World Cup, so surely Paul the psychic octopus (see our earlier reports here) should by now be out of the headlines for good and any searches for Paul octopus trade marks should not reveal any new results? 

While the internet was flooded with rumous that Paul had passed away and fans already feared the worst, we now learn from an article in The Telegraph that Paul is alive and kicking and the latest celebrity to support England's bid to host the World Cup in 2018.  Interested readers may recall that Paul, who currently resides in a German sea life zoo, was "born" in England, so that his latest move could be seen as a return to his English roots.  Almost as if to dispel any rumours, there also three new Paul trade mark applications to be found on the Community trade mark register, all in the name of Sea Life Deutschland GmbH which owns Paul's zoo.