HMD Global, maker of Nokia phones, now owns the PureView trademark!

The day has come when the most respected brand in the mobile imaging community has returned home. HMD Global, the maker of Nokia phones, now owns the iconic “PureView” brand, that Microsoft purchased with the purchase of Nokia’s Devices and Services business in 2013/2014.

PureView had its debut in 2012, when Nokia’s Jo Harlow at MWC2012 presented to the world the Nokia 808 PureView, a camera monster for its time, and still the phone with the biggest image sensor in the history of the mobile phone industry. The PureView brand became the synonym for excellent cameras, that we saw on Nokia Lumia 920, 1020, 1520, and later with the Microsoft Lumia 950.

The PureView trademark was officially transferred to HMD Global on 23rd August, and it’s now available on HMD’s EUIPO page, where all HMD’s trademarks and designs protected by the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office are displayed. During the last year, I contacted Microsoft two times regarding the PureView brand and after being forwarded to “colleagues” from “other departments” I never received an answer with the status of the PureView brand.

One of the trademarks Microsoft acquired and HMD brought back is “Asha“, but we never saw HMD doing anything with the brand. Other brand HMD brought back from Microsoft is “Xpress-ON“, which HMD uses on the exchangeable covers for the Nokia 1. My point is, HMD acquiring the PureView brand doesn’t mean we will see it in the near future on a mobile device.

Keep in mind, Nokia never sold any of its tech to Microsoft, including PureView, and just licensed the tech for 10 years. HMD getting the hold back on the trademark would suggest that HMD will/could license Nokia’s camera tech behind the trademark. We recently heard some speculation that HMD could use Light’s penta-lens camera setup on its mobile devices, and maybe the PureView brand will debut with that penta-lens device.

Anyways, if HMD decides to use the PureView brand they need to be sure to have the best camera experience on the device carrying the brand in the industry. PureView was never about compromises, but best camera performance in every aspect.

Source: EUIPO