Bloom may move court to retain brand name, challenges WeP

The ongoing title clash between Coimbatore-based channel partner Bloom
Electronics and peripheral major WeP Peripherals, has reached the next stage. G
Sundaram, Director, Bloom, informed The DQ Week that the company would move
court if WeP goes ahead with its product roll out plan under the new brand name
- Bloom.

Recently, WeP, in a major repositioning exercise, had announced that it is
changing over to a new corporate name and identity to realign itself with
end-consumer needs. It re-christened itself as 'Bloom' in the process and
also released a new logo-a red berry with an embedded chip, with a slogan 'Your
Tech Fantasy'.

This announcement triggered a fresh controversy in the market when Bloom
preferred to challenge the WeP move to launch products under the name 'Bloom'.

"Bloom Electronics has been in the IT business since 1990 and we have
also positioned 'Bloom' as a brand with our own make of computers. In fact,
we have been recognized by Intel as the best system assembler in the region and
we won a few awards from them. We have also got registered with Trademarks
Registry of India, Chennai, in 2003, to exclusively use this brand name in IT
and related business. Bloom is a brand name owned and built by us, which cannot
be given to others at any cost," pointed out Sundaram. It is understood
that he is on the legal recourse and consulting his IPR lawyer to move court and
restrain WeP from going ahead with the Bloom title.

Bloom has been winning the The DQ Week award as the Best Channel Partner of
Coim-batore for the last four years continuously. It recently won an award from
Intel as the best channel partner in South Asia. "We are a popular brand in
south India and a recognized player in business for the last 15 years. In fact,
we are plann-ing to launch a number of pro-ducts under the 'Bloom' name,
which include laptops by next year," revealed Sundaram.

Meanwhile, WeP Peripherals has confirmed that it would release the products
under new name and identity by next month. According to S Raghavendra Prakash,
Chief Marketing Officer, WeP, "Bloom is a very generic name and I do not
think someone can claim exclusive ownership on this. As an identity, we are
positioning it as 'Bloom-Your Tech Fantasy', with a red fantasy berry and an
embedded chip on it (logo). We are trying to build it under four main values of
the organization such as consumer proactive, consistency with integrity,
cutting-edge speed and your tech fantasy. We want to inculcate this message with
all the stake holders of the company, which include our employees, channel
partners and customers." He also said, the company will, however, remain as
WeP Peripherals, at least for the next six to eight months.

Countering Prakash statement, Sundaram questioned, "If 'Bloom' is a
generic name and no one can claim exclusive ownership on it, why did Prakash
have to approach us asking to give the 'Bloom' ownership rights to WeP
Peripherals. We are quite strong on the legal aspect and are ready for the
battle."

DQW News Bureau

Chennai