Behringer Lose Right To Use Oberheim Name In US Ruling

US Its complicated.. 05/03/21

In a ruling announced yesterday at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the application by MusicTribe to use for the "Behringer Oberheim" brand/trademark, it was rejected. They filed for this in August 2020, but as Tom Oberheim owns the trademark "Oberheim" in the US it wasn't clear cut.

They said, in this rather dense document:

...the surname OBERHEIM in the applied-for mark unmistakably points to the Tom Oberheim, who is so well-known in relation to applicant's type of goods and within the relevant industry that the public would reasonably assume a connection between Tom Oberheim and the applicant's goods. Because a written consent to register the mark by Tom Oberheim is not of record, registration is refused under Trademark Act Section 2(c)

Tom Oberheim also has trademarked OB-Xa in the US, though confusingly not Oberheim in other European territories - what a mess!

So our guess - and it it a guess, given the legal complexity of such matters, that the Behringer OB-Xa will unlikely be known as that on release, and may also require other cosmetic changes. Though to be fair, they didn't change all that much for the Roland clones they released.

Still its unlikely to change a great deal for the synth buyer, Behringer synthesizers will still be affordable and continue to be made and bought by a willing public, as will instruments by Tom Oberheim.

Incedentally, Oberheim (the Tom Oberheim one) have just announced the reissue ot the Two Voice Pro which will be available in 2021. Price TBA. More Info: https://sonicstate.com/news/2021/03/04/oberheim-revives-the-two-voice-synth/

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