Pocky Day IP

Happy Pocky Day! 

Yes, evidently Nov. 11th is not only Armistice Day or Veteran's Day, it is also Pocky Day®. (If you want to learn about patents related to Armistice or Veteran's Day, just visit the current Kelley Center display, featuring rotating holiday patents.) The day dedicated to celebrating the snack was created in 1999 by Ezaki Glico, the company that owns and produces Pocky.

First released in 1966, Pocky is a Japanese snack food comprised of a small biscuit stick coated in flavored icing. Flavors include chocolate, vanilla, and matcha, among many more, some of which are unusual or regionally specific. The basic chocolate variety is readily found in America; Houstonians can usually obtain a box from the international aisle in an HEB, Kroger, or other sizable corporate grocery.

Ezaki Glico owns quite a bit of Pocky-related intellectual property. Here's a list of some highlights:

1. Pocky packaging patent: Box, US Design 520,869. It's a very short patent, just the two pages below.
   
   
   

    
   
    
   
2. Patent for the Pocky snack itself:  Stick-shaped Snack And Method For Producing The Same, US Utility 8,778,428. This slightly longer patent is for the process to create a Pocky biscuit stick. Visit this link to a PDF of the document.
   
   

   

   The perfect thin biscuits

   
   
3. Patented device to control stick length: Device For Trimming Too Long Sticks And For Eliminating Those Too Short, US Utility 5,307,940. Before Pocky was perfected, Ezaki Glico had to invent something that controlled the length of the biscuits. It's mostly technical; see the patent here.
   
4. Inventing iconic cartons: Carton With Two Covers, US Utility 3,835,989. In 1974, Ezaki Glico obtained the patent for their cartons that haven't changed much since. The most identifiable figure from the patent is below; find the documents in full here.

   

   Clever carton creation
   

   
   Unfortunately, searching pre-1970 patents for assignees is difficult in the USPTO's official database and search tool, and my efforts produced nothing that resembled Pocky prior to 1974.
   
   
   
5. Pocky®: US trademark registration no. 1249460. The name Pocky, as applied to the specific type of snack or confectionery good described, was registered with the USPTO in August 1983.

   

   Specimen photo provided for registration
   

6. Pocky Day®: US trademark registration no. 5230070; international registration no. 1331914. In 2017, Ezaki Glico received the below trademark from the USPTO; the international mark was registered slightly earlier, in July 2016.

   

   Registration symbol required
   

   
   
7. Pocky Ultra Slim® and image below: US trademark registration no. 4773595. This mark registion includes both the words "Pocky Ultra Slim" and the distinct appearance of the graphic, which includes colors, wording, font, placement of elements, Pocky snacks, etc. Of course, no exclusive claim is made to the phrase "ultra slim" or that same expressed in characters that transliterate to "Go-Ku-Bo-So". 

   

   Registered image and words

There are many more patents, trademarks, and probably trade secrets associated with Pocky. if you want to learn more about how to find the marks or patents, just let us know at the PTRC!