Do you remember the Yahoo! portal? It was cool before Google disrupted the Internet industry . . . Actually, Yahoo! is alive and well in Japan. It has adapted to remain competitive, and now the Japanese parent organization Z Holdings (Tokyo) is about to buy its trademark from the American owner.[1]
Of course, all along Yahoo! JAPAN has been paying license royalties to whomever the owner of the Yahoo! trademark in the United States was at the time. Those have been, in turn, Verizon Communications, then AOL, then Oath (now Verizon Media). The directory-style Internet interface of Yahoo! waned in popularity and faded in most of the world in the face of Google’s search engine interface, so its value around the world has diminished. [2]
Not so in Japan. Yahoo! JAPAN succeeded at various additions and adaptations such as a popular “chiebukuro” (wisdom bag) user information-sharing platform, Yahoo! Auctions (a popular counterpart to the United States’ ebay), and its Yahoo! news collation portal. In fact, in 2019 at the merger press conference for Z Holdings with LINE (Japan’s popular chat app, similar to WhatsApp and WeChat, etc.), it was mentioned with regret that as long as Yahoo! JAPAN was borrowing the trademark, Yahoo! JAPAN could not use it in markets abroad where it hoped to grow.[2]
Now, Z Holdings has announced its purchase of the Yahoo! brand for about US$1.6 billion from the acquirer of Verizon Media.[1] Writer Nishida Munechika surmises that while LINE and other more mobile phone-based services will drive future growth, Yahoo! JAPAN can maintain a strong support base among the older, more computer-focused generation.[2]
Japan’s history is full of examples of learning, incorporating, adapting, and perfecting, foreign technologies. Yahoo! JAPAN is a trademark example of business world adaptation for the Japanese market.
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Contact: Taro Yaguchi
Sources
[1] NHK [Japan Broadcasting Corporation] World. “Yahoo Japan to get trademark rights.” https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210706_19/ July 6, 2021. Accessed July 15, 2021.
[2] Nishida Munechika (西田宗千佳). “日本で育った「ヤフー」、ついに商標権を取得。その意義とこれから [Japan-grown Yahoo at last acquires its trademark; what that means and what will happen].” Nishida Munechika no Ima to Mirai, on Impress Watch. https://www.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/series/nishida/1337340.html July 12, 2021. Accessed July 15, 2021.
Header image by Егор Камелев from Pixabay.
