It’s fairly standard practice for companies to register trademarks for upcoming programs and services ahead of official announcements and launches. It’s a necessary legality to secure their legal rights and prevent other parties from stealing their concepts and while the names and descriptions of the trademarks can be deliberately ambiguous to avoid leaking too much information before they’re ready, they can still offer clues and opportunities for followers of the companies to speculate about what the companies have planned.
Some recent registrations from Microsoft that hint at exciting future announcements from the tech giant include the renewal of the BattleToads trademark in November last year (which has to mean more than a small cameo in Shovel Knight, right?) and the Windows 365 trademark registration in February.
Now the folks over at GeekWire have stumbled across a new Microsoft trademark registration for the word, “Selawik,” and is described as “computer software for use in displaying and printing digital typeface designs, typographical ornaments and character fonts”. It’s unclear exactly what this could be but it definitely is curious.
Other recent trademarks by Microsoft discovered were “Continuum”, “TouchBack” and “InkBack”, all of which have been confirmed as corresponding to previously announced technologies.
What do you think Selawik is? Speculate in the comments below!
Further reading: Microsoft, Selawik, Trademarks
