Saw this posted over on NeoGaf
Trademark popped up today on USPTO's site:
Word Mark LAUNCHWORKS
Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Game software
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 85872912
Filing DateMarch 11, 2013
Current Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner (APPLICANT) Microsoft Corporation CORPORATION WASHINGTON One Microsoft Way Redmond WASHINGTON 980526399
Attorney of Record Lisa M. Martens
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
Source: http://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer...Index=1&page=1
The trademark was filed on the 11th of March which is also the date when the domain microsoftlaunchworks.net was registered. This is information from VeriSign:
Domain Name: MICROSOFTLAUNCHWORKS.NET
Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC.
Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Name Server: NS1.MSFT.NET
Name Server: NS2.MSFT.NET
Name Server: NS3.MSFT.NET
Name Server: NS4.MSFT.NET
Name Server: NS5.MSFT.NET
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 11-mar-2013
Creation Date: 11-mar-2013
Expiration Date: 11-mar-2014
Source: http://www.verisigninc.com/en_US/pro...is/index.xhtml
It's Mark Monitor and not Microsoft itself that's the registrar, but that's common for a lot of things (look at the recent xboxevent.com domain for example). Anyway, Mark Monitor is the "global leader in online brand protection". The domain currently features nothing as far as I can tell, but directs you to a Bing search site.
As for the name, it sounds kinda important. Like some kind of portal for new game launches or maybe something for indie developers (as a natural evolution from Xbox LIVE Arcade/XNA). It's anyway related to some kind of gaming. Whether that's for Durango, Windows 8 or something completely different we can only guess.
