Samsung has a new trademark pending in Europe for the word “Couphone,” as of November 9, which suggests the company plans to use Couphone as a branding of some kind. Unfortunately, according to documentation submitted to the European Union Intellectual Property Office, the trademark is listed as applicable to quite a list of various devices. In fact, the brand could be applicable to no fewer than 18 different types of technology products under “Nice” class number 9. Interestingly, those do include cellular phones and tablet computers, as well as accessories for those. So this filing could indicate a new family of those types of devices bearing the Couphone branding. However, it’s still a bit difficult to say what Couphone could really be at this point.
Some speculation has surfaced around the trademark, stemming from the fact that the word “cou,” in French, translates to “neck.” But it may be too early to jump to the conclusion that this will be some sort of neck-borne wearable smartphone, with consideration for the fact that those types of devices are not explicitly listed under the filing. The trademark class number in question generally applies to cell phones, tablets, batteries and chargers, communications cables, headsets or earphones, cases and flip covers, stylus, docking stations, protective films, and hands-free kits. Of course, that does not necessarily rule out the possibility that Samsung intends to use Couphone for a new kind of wearable smartphone. It is, as of this writing, equally likely that the trademark could be applied to any number of wearable or nonwearable accessories for existing smartphones. It could even be intended for a headset or earbuds that are A.I.-assistant enabled, such as Google’s Pixel buds or Bose recently released QuietComfort 35 II headphones. The Couphone branding could make sense in that scenario if the trademarked name does suggest that it is intended to be worn around a user’s neck.
It bears mentioning, on the other hand, that all of the speculation so far centers around one translation of a single part of the branding Samsung is trying trademark. It could be that Samsung did not intend for the word to really mean anything like that at all. Until Samsung unveils something, there’s really no way to know. Unfortunately, that could take some time still, since this filing has not been processed through and it only applies to the naming of a product rather than the manufacture of a product.