I don’t know about you, but I am fed up with all of the vulgar book titles, song titles, and TV show names. You might say I am p*ssed off or I think that this type of vulgarity s*cks, but then I would be playing right back into these authors’ hands. If you know me,… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: March 2009
Snack on This One: A Red, Hot, Chip Fight
Posted in Food, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Product Packaging, Sight, Taste, TrademarksMinneapolis is the chosen venue for a brand new legal food fight, one involving potato chips. Putting aside for the moment that the proper test of trademark infringement is not based on a side by side comparison of products (unless, of course, they are encountered that way in the real world, as opposed to the… Continue Reading
Pepsi is Smiling At Us
Posted in Branding, Famous MarksMars Candies is not the only company rebranding by including their logo with catchy phrases. Pepsi has jumped on the band wagon, too. Pepsi has gone a step further by also trying to uplift spirits during the difficult economic times. Pepsi’s logo is now turned on its head to become a smile. This new campaign is also designed… Continue Reading
Buh-bye Kinko’s, Hello “FedEx Office”?
Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Loss of Rights, TrademarksI have now been reminded several times, in several places, that "FedEx Kinko’s is now FedEx Office." Does anyone else think that this is a huge mistake? I understand that FedEx is a strong, national brand — even a strong international brand at this point — but Kinko’s is arguably stronger. This name change… Continue Reading
Touchy Trademarks
Posted in Famous Marks, Genericide, Look-For Ads, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Packaging, Touch, TrademarksWhen are trademarks touchy? Ask the good people at Kimberly-Clark®. One example might be when they are risky to use because of the prior rights of another. This “touchy” example is not unique to Kimberly-Clark®, of course, it is known to anyone who has been through the naming process, and as Aaron Keller of Capsule… Continue Reading
The Curious Case of Corporate Christening
Posted in Famous MarksThey are all around us—skyscrapers, stadiums and event centers with corporate namesakes. Many of us spend the better part of the work week toiling inside of them. Or, we spend hours watching sporting events inside of them. Examples abound throughout most cities, and one only needs to open his or her eyes to be flooded with the examples. Our… Continue Reading
A Mother of an Opportunity
Posted in Advertising, Guest Bloggers, Idea Protection, MarketingWas your mom a multiple serial monogamist? Then bring back those memories of daddy-for-a-day with “Gentlemen Callers,” a new scented candle featuring “a sensual orgy of men’s colognes.” Sounds like an ad from The Onion, but it’s not. You can buy “Gentlemen Callers” and several other candles from Mother, a New York company that also… Continue Reading
Brand Strength: Balancing Marketing and Legal Perspectives
Posted in Branding, Dilution, Famous Marks, Marketing, TrademarksHow strong is your brand? The answer may depend on who you ask. To a marketer, brand strength might be considered inversely proportional to the number and kinds of products it appears on, with the strongest of brands pointing to a single product. Dan Kelly previously alluded to the marketing concern of “overbranding” here and… Continue Reading
AP Competitors in Hot Water
Posted in Law SuitsThey got it right in 1918. The Supreme Court pronounced that although facts themselves cannot be copyrighted, a company can sue when a competitor copies time-sensitive information or breaking news. Déjà vu in 2009—the Associated Press (AP) was again allowed to pursue its claim. Although this time it is in a new venue: the Internet…. Continue Reading
One Way to Establish a Non-Traditional Trademark
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Food, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, SightDo you recognize this logo? Does it make you hungry? Ok, maybe not. Let’s try some word associations instead. I’ll list some words, and you just shout out the first thing that comes to mind for each one: CHEWNIVERSITY CHOMPENSATION SATISFLYING ANTIHUNGERESTABLISHMENTARIANISM How’d you do? The answer to this mystery is after the jump …. Continue Reading
Brevity: Do You Have Terminal Facilities?
Posted in Advertising, AlphaWatch, Branding, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Food, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademarks, TruncationOk, ok, I get it. My last blog post, The Paradox of Brand Protection, was way too long. Just so you know, I do recognize that we live in a sound bite world, but sometimes the educator and storyteller tangled in my DNA get the worst of me, at least when it comes to brevity…. Continue Reading
The Patent Attorney Approach To Marketing
Posted in MarketingWARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT This post graphically shows what happens when a patent attorney attempts marketing. If you have a sensitive stomach or feel faint at the mention of the word "algebra," you may not want to read on. What follows is an attempt by a group of inventors, including "at least one" patent attorney, to claim as… Continue Reading
But, is it Really Guinness?
Posted in Taste, TrademarksIt’s not even noon and I’ve already received e-mail forwards containing a fair share of leprechaun-themed tomfoolery, some of it quite enjoyable. And, as it does every year, the question of whether Guinness tastes better and/or different in Ireland than it does elsewhere has resurfaced. I confess I’m not much of a beer drinker, but I… Continue Reading
Branded, Outlaw Style: “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”
Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Guest BloggersThank you, Mr. Eastwood, for all that you continue to do. Don’t worry, this isn’t the typical, mundane comparison between branding cattle and branding your next product. We can all agree; that metaphor has had its time. No, this is about the importance of the number three, the triad. Much of our scientific, mathematical, political… Continue Reading
The Paradox of Brand Protection: Knowing When to Hit the Consumer Over the Head
Posted in Branding, Law Suits, Look-For Ads, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Packaging, Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch, TrademarksI often remind branding professionals that trademark law rewards their creativity. Some seem to perk up with this subtle encouragement. After all, everyone likes to be rewarded, right? Well, one of the unobvious rewards for creativity comes in the prompt timing of when trademark ownership begins. Being able to own and enjoy exclusive rights on… Continue Reading
First First! A Diluted Banking Brand?
Posted in Branding, Dilution, Domain NamesThere is an interesting phenomenon in the blogging world in which readers who can post comments on a blog vie to be the first one to comment on a new post. On some of the larger blogs, this results in several entries at the head of the comments, all of which contain nothing more than the… Continue Reading
Don’t let them eat bonbons!
Posted in Counterfeits, Famous Marks, Food, Product Packaging, TrademarksFrench customs agents seized 10 tons of counterfeit chocolate bonbons. According to the French customs office, the chocolates were low-quality copycats of the Italian-made Ferrero Rochers. Popular in the U.S. as well as Europe, Ferrero Rochers candies are known for nestling in elegant, individual gold foil wrappers and then inside jewel-shaped clear boxes. The French… Continue Reading
Overbranding II: When have you stretched your brand too far?
Posted in BrandingI submit that when a well-known gun manufacturer begins putting its trademark on footwear and cologne, it may be stretching its brand too far.
Keyword Ads…Have You Ever Wondered (Noticed, or Even Cared)?
Posted in Keyword Ads, Law Suits, Marketing, Search EnginesAndy Rooney from CBS’ Sixty Minutes made famous, “Have you ever wondered?” The more basic threshold questions should have been, “Did you even notice?” and “Does anyone even care?” Mr. Rooney had a knack for making us take notice, perhaps after the fact, because we never cared to wonder, at least, before he asked in… Continue Reading
Under the Umbrella of Fame?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Dilution, Famous Marks, Television, TrademarksI admit it—I have been watching too much TV in this last, incredibly slow, trimester of pregnancy, while my husband and I await the arrival of our bundle of joy. During one such evening, a commercial came on that started with a floating red umbrella and music, soon joined by Catherine Zeta Jones walking down… Continue Reading
Squirrels Know A Lot About Protecting Their Nuts
Posted in Guest BloggersMeet Duey, the squirrel. Protector of essential assets. He came to life in a conversation about the wonderful nuggets of creativity we find [when we’re lucky] and those who spend their career protecting these organizational assets. Stephen Baird is the ever-present Intellectual Property attorney with a special affection for Trademarks – he and his creative… Continue Reading
Brands & Trademarks: Giving New Meaning to the Phrase “Stimulus Package”
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch, TrademarksThere is certainly a lot of buzz in the news these days about “Stimulus Packages” and how they might be utilized around the globe to spur economic growth and permit us all to resume our active pursuit of prosperity. Let us not forget that a brand (and the underlying trademarks that provide for the legal protection… Continue Reading
Overbranding: Can You Dilute Your Own Brand?
Posted in Branding, Dilution, Famous Marks, TrademarksDo you recognize this trademark? How about this one? Any guesses about what sources these represent? The first is a trademark for Victorinox AG. The second is a trademark for Wenger NA, Inc. Do either of these remind you of anything else? How about a Swiss Army knife? I clearly remember receiving my first Swiss… Continue Reading
Dr. No and the Parade of Horribles
Posted in SoapBoxDr. No is not only the name of a famous James Bond film, it is the would-be trademark of a dietary supplement company located in San Francisco, it describes a certain kind of politician, and most importantly, for purposes of this inaugural post for Duets Blog, it describes a certain brand of intellectual property lawyer…. Continue Reading
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Duets Blog Authors
Steve Baird
Just so you know, I'm all about brands and the law, both professionally and personally. I regularly annoy family and friends in retail stores by focusing on product labels—not to buy the product, but to read the fine print and ask, "Who owns these brands" and "Did they really register those marks?" More...
Dan Kelly
You can call me a “non-traditional” attorney, which is a polite way of saying that I did not attend law school straight out of college. I spent five of my first six years after college as a junior high school teacher. The other year I worked as an engineer for a large corporation. More...
Sharon Armstrong
Voted most likely to become an actress while in pre-school, I don’t think I surprised anyone by becoming a lawyer, the steadiest professional gig open to those with a flair for the dramatic. More...
Brent Lorentz
Although I wish I could say my path to the law was the result of a lifelong dream or calling, it was more the result mere curiosity and an affinity for leather-bound books. More...
Tiffany Blofield
Although my initial career path was to be one of the Supremes (not the musically talented ones with platform shoes and sequins, but rather, the nine wearing sensible shoes and pressed black robes in DC), I will likely stay in Minnesota as I have never lived anywhere else. More...
Brad Walz
My law career started on the ice…as a defensive hockey player (we’re not talking professionally…and if I were, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into law). More...
Susan Perera
Born into the world with an aptitude for science and an affinity for art I found my career path quickly chosen for me. More...
Joy S. Newborg
When I took a personality/career test in high school to determine which path in life I should follow, I was told I should either be in broadcast journalism or law. So after I went to undergraduate school for broadcast journalism and film/television, I went on to obtain my law degree from the University of Minnesota. More...
Laura Gutierrez
An attorney I am not. Though told to become one, I don't possess those qualities needed to be an effective one (I lack confrontation skills, and although I can write a great argumentative essay, I can’t argue outside a sheet of paper). More...