tncorgi
April 10th, 2003, 10:53pm
Sony leads charge to cash in on Iraq
Julia Day
Thursday April 10, 2003
http://media.guardian.co.uk/marketingandpr/story/0,7494,933239,00.html
'Shock and Awe' game will be available on
PlayStation 2
Japanese electronics giant Sony has taken an
extraordinary step to cash in on the war in Iraq by patenting the term "Shock and Awe" for a computer game.
It is among a swarm of companies scrambling to
commercially exploit the war
in Iraq, which has killed more than 5,000 soldiers and
civilians in the space of
three weeks.
MediaGuardian.co.uk has learned that Sony is set
to launch a computer game
called "Shock and Awe", having registered the defining
phrase of the coalition's
military campaign as a trademark in the US.
It registered the term as a trademark with the US
Patent and Trademark
Office on March 2 1 - just one day after war started.
It wants to use it for
computer and video games, as well as a broadband game
played both locally and
globally via the internet among PlayStation users.
The phrase, coined by former US navy pilot Harlan
Ullman, was adopted by
Washington to describe the fierce bombardment of
Baghdad on the second night of
the war - the military tactic designed to bully the
Iraqi resistance into
submission.
However, the crassness of the phrase was seized
upon by critics of evidence
of US arrogance in a war that the UN, and notably
France and Russia, refused to
support.
A spokesman for Sony PlayStation in the UK
admitted the company might not
stock the game in Britain and Europe owing to political
sensitivities.
Julia Day
Thursday April 10, 2003
http://media.guardian.co.uk/marketingandpr/story/0,7494,933239,00.html
'Shock and Awe' game will be available on
PlayStation 2
Japanese electronics giant Sony has taken an
extraordinary step to cash in on the war in Iraq by patenting the term "Shock and Awe" for a computer game.
It is among a swarm of companies scrambling to
commercially exploit the war
in Iraq, which has killed more than 5,000 soldiers and
civilians in the space of
three weeks.
MediaGuardian.co.uk has learned that Sony is set
to launch a computer game
called "Shock and Awe", having registered the defining
phrase of the coalition's
military campaign as a trademark in the US.
It registered the term as a trademark with the US
Patent and Trademark
Office on March 2 1 - just one day after war started.
It wants to use it for
computer and video games, as well as a broadband game
played both locally and
globally via the internet among PlayStation users.
The phrase, coined by former US navy pilot Harlan
Ullman, was adopted by
Washington to describe the fierce bombardment of
Baghdad on the second night of
the war - the military tactic designed to bully the
Iraqi resistance into
submission.
However, the crassness of the phrase was seized
upon by critics of evidence
of US arrogance in a war that the UN, and notably
France and Russia, refused to
support.
A spokesman for Sony PlayStation in the UK
admitted the company might not
stock the game in Britain and Europe owing to political
sensitivities.