HMD, the Finnish company that licenses the Nokia brand name for making phones, has acquired the Pureview brand name from Microsoft. Microsoft got its hands on that name when it bought Nokia’s phone division four years ago.
The EUIPO, a European agency for trademark and design registration, informs Pureview that HMD took ownership of the brand name a few days ago, Nokiamob noted. It can be deduced from this that Microsoft has given or sold the brand name to HMD. Neither company has disclosed anything about the transaction.
Microsoft has never used the brand name. Nokia used the Pureview name for its high-end camera phones. The name Pureview came back in the camera software of the Lumia 1020 with Windows Phone and appeared on the Nokia 808 Pureview, the last Symbian phone ever to appear. It came out six years ago.
HMD previously bought the intellectual property on the camera interface of Nokia’s Lumia devices. It is unknown whether HMD can also use Nokia’s techniques for making cameras and software that underpinned the 808 and Lumia 1020.
HMD is headquartered in the Finnish city of Espoo across from Nokia, while many of HMD’s employees also come from Nokia and Microsoft’s mobile division. HMD started selling Nokia devices in early 2017.
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