By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Samsung Electronics has secured exclusive trademark rights to use the name ``Android'' for its digital devices, including handsets, in the domestic market.
According to Samsung representatives, the firm has struck an exclusive deal with a local content manufacturer called T-PLEX to use ``Android'' for Samsung's upcoming hardware products including mobile phones.
``Samsung and the content maker registered with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) over the deal in the latter half of last year,'' a company spokesman said, Wednesday.
T-PLEX officials said the exclusive contract with Samsung will expire Oct. 30, 2014. It registered for the trademark with the government in June 2009.
KIPO gave the green light to Google for using ``Android'' for computer programming-related fields, while T-PLEX was approved to use it for portable devices, KIPO officials said.
The Samsung official declined to comment over the contract period.
The moves are expected to hinder Samsung's local rival LG Electronics and even foreign makers such as Motorola and Sony-Ericsson in the heating competition to sell Internet giant Google-backed Android smartphones on local shelves, observers say.
``Now Samsung has more of an edge in marketing to drive its smartphones dubbed `Android' in the domestic market as it can sue handset vendors using the word for their devices,'' another Samsung official said.
The contract between Samsung and T-PLEX forces handset vendors to use caution when naming their products. For instance, if a manufacturer were to name a product ``Androi,'' then it might be regarded as violation of Samsung's trademark, officials say.