The Phoblographer reports that the remnants of Polaroid, the company left over after the Impossible Project created Polaroid Originals, is requesting Fujifilm to cease production of Instax Square film. The issue is that the border of the Square format Instax prints violates Polaroid's registered trademarks.
The iconic border, of a squarish rectangle within a larger rectangle with that tab at the bottom, is registered trademark of Polaroid. While usually white in colour, the trademark stipulates that ``color is not claimed as a feature of the mark.''
When the new Instax Square film was introduced in January 2017, Polaroid sent a letter to Fujifilm. Fujifilm went ahead with the product anyway. The similarity of the new format instant film probably looks too much like Polaroid film for their taste. A redesign of the Instax film is probably not possible.
That tab at the bottom of an integral instant film picture contains the developing chemistry for the image. Without it, no image is possible. Does this spell trouble for Instax Square even in the year it is being introduced, or will Polaroid benefit from an agreement with Fujifilm? Could this development potentially orphan the yet to be produced Lomography Instant'Square camera?
Another story to watch in the analogue photography world.
* Disclaimer: This blogger has backed the Lomography Instant'Square project.
