Huawei allegedly trademarks yet another new OS name

Huawei is now linked to multiple different possible names for its well-publicized in-house OS, which may replace Android on its phones in the near future. A new possible leak has turned up another new such term for this system: Harmony. It has allegedly been trademarked in the EU for this purpose.

by Deirdre O Donnell, 2019/07/13

Huawei has been popularly linked to the eventuality that it may unleash a proprietary operating system for its mobile devices in the future. It may well have to do so, should it lose the ability to license Android for the same upcoming products in the future due to its fraught relationship with the US government.

A number of contradictory leaks have hinted at several different potential names for this new OS. For example, Huawei has been rumored to have settled on the term HongMeng for the system, for use in its domestic market of China at least. However, the latest putative filing on this subject has deviated from this initial theory yet again.

The new submission has allegedly been sent to the EU's intellectual property office, applying for the term 'Harmony' as a trademark for "Downloadable operating system programs" and "Mobile operating systems". Therefore, should this leak prove valid, Harmony could become the name for Huawei's OS on phones (at least).

It may also mean that the OEM now has up to 4 trademarked OS names: HongMeng, Ark, Oak, and, finally, Harmony. It is not clear why the company would need all of them (should the leaks surrounding them be accurate); then again, it may simply be that some of them are contingencies in the event that market research shows one or more of fail to fly with consumers.