Amazon Is Trying To Trademark Echo Device's Blue Rings

Like Golden Arches, scarlet red women's shoe soles and green giants on cans of corn, colors can capture consumers' interests in a product more effectively than words.

The irony is that Amazon's Echo is known not for images, but for speaking to users. Call it a new form of convergence. JL

Mike Murphy reports in Quartz:

Amazon is trying to get a trademark through the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for every iteration of the cyan blue rings that appear when Amazon’s Echo smart speakers are listening to a person. The other ring colors that the Echo can produce—including red for muted, orange for setup mode, yellow for messages, and green for calls—were not included in the trademark filing.
If you’re thinking of creating a standalone speaker that has a voice-controlled assistant that lets you order just about anything in the world, make sure you don’t put any blue rings on it.
That’s because Amazon is trying to get a trademark through the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for every iteration of the cyan blue rings that appear when Amazon’s Echo smart speakers are listening to a person. Amazon applied for the trademark July 26, 2016, and according to the USPTO’s website, it’s currently being reviewed by an examiner. Interestingly, the other ring colors that the Echo can produce—including red for muted, orange for setup mode, yellow for messages, and green for calls—were not included in the trademark filing.

The rings in Amazon’s trademark filings. (USPTO/Amazon)

While it’s unclear whether Amazon will be awarded the trademark it’s trying to get for what amounts to some blue lights on top of a black cylinder, it’s one of hundreds of trademarks that Amazon holds or has applied for, as it looks to protect its original businesses and ideas. Another it wants is a service mark, inexplicably just for the phrase “Dip it real good.” Hopefully this isn’t something Alexa will be saying to us any time soon.