The operators of Surprise.com have filed for the registration of the matching mark, SURPRISE.COM.
What is Surprise.com all about? According to their web site:
Surprise gets people and teams to perform at their best every single day by converting quarterly or annual bonuses to a timescale that aligns with today’s highly-stimulated, high-expectation workforce.
The mark has been applied for with an “intent to use” clause for the following services:
Downloadable software and mobile applications for management success, namely for delivering employee incentives and rewards; for recognizing employee accomplishments and milestones; for reinforcing positive and successful employee behaviors; for improving employee morale, engagement and productivity; for increasing individual, team and organizational success; for improving workplace performance; for setting individual, team and organizational goals and objectives; and for tracking progress toward such goals and objectives
Providing software-as-a-service (SaaS) services featuring online non-downloadable software for management success, namely for delivering employee incentives and rewards; for recognizing employee accomplishments and milestones; for reinforcing positive and successful employee behaviors; for improving employee morale, engagement and productivity; for increasing individual, team and organizational success; for improving workplace performance; for setting individual, team and organizational goals and objectives; and for tracking progress toward such goals and objectives
Surprise.com, Inc. is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, and it’s a company that formed in 2017 as Surprise HR. At the time, it had received limited venture capital totaling $300k. Its founder is Albert Eloyan.
It comes as no surprise that they were operating from the domain name SurpriseHR.com. That changed in early 2020 when they acquired the domain Surprise.com.
The sale of Surprise.com by its former owner, and its acquisition by Surprise HR most likely took place in early March 2020 and the social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram along with Twitter were changed to reflect that. A WHOIS change on March 11, 2020 appears to support that, with social media changes taking place a week later.
Why was SURPRISE.COM applied for as a trademark at the USPTO?
It’s an ongoing trend among owners of generic domain names, following the decision by SCOTUS on the Booking.com trademark application.
Since then, dozens of generic domain names have been applied to be registered as trademarks, inclusive of the TLD. We keep track of these applications, and so far none has been decided upon.
As of January 5th, 2021, BOOKING.COM is a registered trademark with the USPTO.
Will these applications become the new norm? Watch this video from NamesCon Online 2020.
