Japanese Meat Magnate Trademarks "High School Girl"

Just when you thought Japan couldn't get any weirder:

Meat product manufacturer Ito Ham has taken the Japanese schoolgirl obsession to the next level by applying for the trademark rights to the word "High School Girl" (????/Joshi-Kosei).

A pair of trademark applications (via the INPIT database) indicate that Ito Ham is planning a line of High School Girl® meat products, including meat pies, gyoza dumplings, pizza, curry and more. Either that, or someone in the office is just having fun.

The phrase "high school girl" is already a commonly used phrase in Japan (to say the least), so it's not clear that the trademark will be granted. Still, you have to the admire the appropriately-named meat magnate Mr. Ito Ham for trying.

To review: Japanese schoolgirls. Trademark law. Discuss.

Via the always-reliable source Pink Tentacle

Comments

[Kolohe]

Just for info, is that last link work-safe? because the url makes it seem like it has a high potential not to be.

[Nominee John McCain]

Damn gooks!

[ed]

I'm all for it, especially when they giggle and try to kill Uma Thurman.

[Crusader Rabbit]

I have dibs on "Jailbait."

[smacky]

Ohmygod they are making meat by-products out of high school girls now...Japan always has been the forerunner in misogyny-related advancements.

High school girl dumplings are people! They're people!

[gaijin]

High school girls? Meat Magnate? Something has to have been lost in translation, no?

[KMW]

The link is safe--it's just gadget porn.

[anon.]

If Japanese trademark law is anything like American trademark law, then this isn't as sweeping as it sounds. It wouldn't remove the phrase from the public lexicon, and someone else could set up a "high school girl" clothing or makeup line without infringing the trademark. Just like the "Apple" trademark only applies to consumer electronics, this would just prevent other companies from using "high school girl" to advertise meat products.

[Meaty High School Girls Studio]

this would just prevent other companies from using "high school girl" to advertise meat products.

So, I'm cool then?

[Ska]

Everyone loves to eat High School Girl!!!

[dhex]

what will this mean for dangerous high school girls in trouble?
http://www.mousechief.com/dhsg/index.html

[Danny]

"The link is safe--it's just gadget porn."

Whew! At first glance I thought I saw "Pink Testacles".

The really funny story is when I saw "Vagina Slims" at a convenience store, only to double-take and realize that it was, in fact, "Virginia Slims". I was ready to buy myself at least 20!

Maybe my mind's just always in the gutter?

[joshua corning]

In that same high school get up a white chick would look better.

Just saying.

[Jon H]

"In that same high school get up a white chick would look better."

I'm sorry, but no.

[Jamie Kelly]

... including meat pies ...

Sometimes, you just can't improve on the original.

[SugarFree]

The idea folds back in on itself in Stacy.

Japanese schoolgirl zombies. If only the movie was 1/100th as good as the premise.

[First Little Pig]

I have been told that the legal age for sex in Tokyo is 14. And there is much less taboo for high school girls to prostitute themselves than there is here and it happens all the time.

[prolefeed]

joshua -- It's a matter of taste. Literally, if you buy the products.

Wouldn't a line of High School Girl seafood products be a better fit?

* ducks roundhouse from Jennifer

[R C Dean]

dumplings

Like the man said:

Sometimes, you just can't improve on the original.

[SugarFree]

And they sell dirty panties in vending machines.

[Danny]

Sorry, joshua. I'm with Jon on this one. Though, if I had my choice I'd certainly take both at the same time to do the research, personally.

[R C Dean]

I have been told that the legal age for sex in Tokyo is 14.

I'd double-check that if your source was a 14 year old prostitute, FLP.

[Nick]

Tough call Joshua, depends on the girl. Always depends on the girl.

[Dave W.]

The phrase "high school girl" is already a commonly used phrase in Japan (to say the least), so it's not clear that the trademark will be granted.

Trademark law generally doesn't let you own a phrase for all purposes. The question is whether "high school girl" is a common term for meat products in Japan.

Geez, the ignorance.

[TrickyVic]

Didn't Trump trademark "you're fired"?

[SugarFree]

Crap, the link didn't work.

[cynical bastard]

May cannibalism jokes commence...

...oh, damn, too late.

[joshua corning]

"In that same high school get up a white chick would look better."

I'm sorry, but no.

Bullshit

Big breasted American thighed girls with red/brown/blond hair and their jeweled eyes beat out stick figures 8 days a week. Simply because you have a mental illness that exhibits itself as a fetish for bags of sticks does not change that fact.

[x,y]

Imagine the outrage here if someone marketed High School Girl Tacos.

[Danny]

@ First Little Pig

Don't tempt me... lol. Of course there is an underlying notion of Pedophilia here, which I'm certainly against, but there are plenty of girls that are ready to get busy at 15 or 16. Though, the more I grow up, the more I realize truly how un-attracted I am to most high school seniors here in the US. Those japanese "school girls" are a turn on, nonetheless.

[First Little Pig]

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/japan.htm

"A new Japanese law went into effect 16 December 1997 making paid sex with a child under age 18 a criminal offence. Anyone who pays for sex with anyone under 18 will be liable to up to a year's jail term and a 2,600 pound sterling fine. Prior to this law sexual contact with children under 13 was illegal but relations with a teenager aged 13 or over was allowed, unless coercion was involved. (The Times, London, 11 October 1997)"

Hmmm... Seems Japanese ages of consent range from 13-18 depending on where you are in the country.... and 13 it is in Tokyo though a decade ago they made selling sex under 18 illegal.

And RC Dean, no that was not the case.

But Japan is a bit wild when it comes to the sex trade. Ever been to a "blowjob bar"

[Nick]

So, the sex with 13-18 year old Japanese girls has to be free. Good to know.

[Nick]

Joshua, it all comes down to taste. (rimshot)

[T. Mark]

"Geez, the ignorance."

At least the post doesn't say he is seeking a copyright or patent for the phrase.

[J sub D]

To review: Japanese schoolgirls. Trademark law. Discuss.

Not me. I also don't go hunting at the zoo.

[Reinmoose]

freelz
Who would seriously buy a certain kind of meat just because it was named "High School Girl?"

Although, now that I think about it further, what food-stuff would be more aptly named that?

High School Girl Cheese? High School Girl Chocolate? High School Girl Beer?

Nah!

[Dangerman]

Ohmygod they are making meat by-products out of high school girls now...

As opposed to making high-school girls out of meat by-products.

"Ohh Suzie, I could just eat. you. up."
Mrumph. Chew.

[Russ 2000]

Speaking of Asian meat...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-lechon_07_bothfeb07,1,6622980,print.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

[prolefeed]

Joshua, on average I'd have to go with a Latina with a nice round booty over the white girl or the Japanese girl, though as always it comes down to individuals women, not categories of women.

[Shane]

Joshua, on average I'd have to go with a Latina with a nice round booty over the white girl or the Japanese girl, though as always it comes down to individuals women, not categories of women.

fellow round T&A lovers, don't tell me you're ignoring the only women in that catagory worth discussing?

[Nick]

Hotness is not determined by race or ethnicity. Hotness is determined by the girl's body type and attitude combined. A curvy girl who acts like a prude may not necessarily better than a thin girl who really wants to please you. Now, if we're just talking about looking at pics of naked chicks, then curves (to a limit) are usually better.

[Malto Dextrin]

All your high school girl belong to us!

[R C Dean]

A curvy girl who acts like a prude may not necessarily better than a thin girl who really wants to please you.

Unless it really is just an act. Bring on the Sexy Librarians! Mrowr!

[JLE]

And I thought the Pink Taco at the Hard Rock was pushing the boundaries of taste...

[NoStar]

There's nothing like eating a High School Girl meat pie, hot and juicy!

WOW! The ad copy practically writes itself.

[mk]

I think they have a bet at Reason HQ on who can start the creepiest thread ever.

Well played KMW, but I can't wait to see what David and Kerry come up with.

[grumpy realist]

Japan definitely has a slant towards female hebephelia and they certainly have a much less uptight attitude towards sex. (When some of your religious rites have you running through the streets with huge giant wooden phalluses on your shoulders you really can say you're not in Kansas anymore.) Remember, when you're in a land worried about the rice crop all the time your native deities will have a heavy slant towards sex and fertility. Which then got slapped on top of with a heavy layer of Confucianism imported from China, which makes for a weird mix.

It's amazing what you can see on Japanese television. One afternoon I ended up catching as one of the regular "weekend movies" one of the many Emmanuelle movies, with the naughty bits suitably pixilated out--but they did show the movie uncut. And what you can find on late-night TV--um, no, you wouldn't believe it.

[Paul]

I [heart] Japan.

[Paul]

Japan definitely has a slant towards female hebephelia

Hey now... didn't this start a long dustup between joe and episiarch a few weeks ago? Can't we all just get along?

[BakedPenguin]

I think they have a bet at Reason HQ on who can start the creepiest thread ever. ...Well played KMW, but I can't wait to see what David and Kerry come up with.

In the past, all Kerry had to do was say she was going to be on TV, and it got creepy fast.

[Oh, stop]

uncut

[thoreau]

In the past, all Kerry had to do was say she was going to be on TV, and it got creepy fast.

Reason has been going downhill since Gillespie left. I mean, just ask joe and he'll tell you that during the Gillespie days, when Julian Sanchez was writing there full time, the magazine was much more serious and intellectual.

For a magazine called Reason....

Drink!

[highnumber]

Um. Yeah. Yeah to everybody but joshua corning.

[wayne]

"hebephelia"

What, is there a word for everything?

[Ito Eat Like Food Was Out Of S]

You can have my high school girl... when you pry her from my cold, dead basement dungeon.

[wayne]

I used to have the same sick fascination with high school girls that most of admit, until my daughter started high school. That is when I started carrying my shotgun in a rack across the back window of my truck.