Coby Electronics Corporation was an American consumer electronics manufacturer founded in 1990 by Young Dong Lee, who owned 100 percent of its capital stock. The company’s name came from deleting the “w” and second “o” in Cowboy, the name of an electronics wholesaler Lee started earlier in his career. Coby closed in June 2013 due to financial trouble, and the Gordon Brothers Group acquired its assets, including intellectual property and global trademarks, in August 2013. [1]
Design and History
The Coby logo was a typographic wordmark written in Bookman Old Style Bold, a serif typeface that resembles the font used in the Sony logo. [1] The company’s official company profile, published through the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, confirms the naming origin and describes Coby as developing products with “a contemporary feel to fit today’s changing consumer lifestyles.” [2]
In early 2006, Coby publicly sought to rebrand itself as a maker of higher-quality goods, though its products tended to remain in the low-price range. [1] A packaging design project by designer Matt Kabel, presented on Coroflot, describes a new brand look for Coby packaging reflecting “a clean, contemporary aesthetic” and a tag line system developed for each product category. [3]
Meaning and Symbolism
The Coby name itself carries the brand’s origin story: it was derived by removing two letters from Cowboy, the name of founder Young Dong Lee’s earlier wholesale electronics business. [1] The company also used the tagline “Innovations for Every Lifestyle,” which it registered as a trademark with the USPTO in December 2005. [4]
Typography and Design
The Coby wordmark was set in Bookman Old Style Bold, a serif typeface. [1] The company also registered a three-dimensional trademark with the USPTO in 2005, described as “a square shaped box with a band across the middle of the box, a circle in the middle of the box, a smaller circle in the lower right hand corner of the box, a convex bubble in the center of the box and the word ‘COBY’ at the bottom center of the packaging.” Color was not claimed as a feature of that mark. [5]
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