Hologram trademarks
Before the introduction of the new types of trademarks, only static marks were registrable. However, now “hologram trademarks” are added to the scope of registrable trademarks.
The term “Hologram trademark” means a trademark in which letters or devices are changeable with the use of holography or other methods. For example, letters or devices which are varying when they are viewed from different angles may constitute a hologram trademark. As shown in the following example using 3 boxes with numbers at their bottom right, this kind of trademark conveys different contents depending on the angle from which it is viewed.
In this example, the mark can be seen as “Tokkyocho (meaning Patent Office) in Japanese Hiragana letters” when viewed from the left (Box 1), “JPO” when viewed from the center (Box 2) and “Tokkyocho in Chinese characters” when viewed from the right (Box 3).
(Source: Pamphlet “System of Protection for New Types of Trademark” by
Japan Patent Office)