happy birthday! and the royalty fees...

i frequently get a newsletter from www.indiajuris.com.
recently, they mailed me something quite funny:


HAPPY BIRTHDAY A TRADEMARK NOW

Happy Birthday can no longer be legally used on any other products. A private Chinese company has claimed to have registered the words as its trademark in 25 countries, including the US, Japan and European Union members.

The Fufeng toy plant in Anhui Province said it has more than 70 products with the Happy Birthday brand, including toys, dresses, shoes and hats.

With fierce competition in the world toy market, the company realised the importance of brading. They were inspired to register the "well-known and pleasant phrase", a company official was quoted as saying.

interesting. i guess now we'll have to start trademarking well-known malaysian phrases as well. here are a few:

selamat pagi = good morning
selamat petang = good afternoon/evening
selamat malam = good night
apa khabar? = how are you?

there's an indonesian word that might merit trademarking too:

bringsek! (it's a four-letter word in indonesian ;-)
very powderful. sure to get attention one...