DuetsBlog Collaborations in Creativity & the Law

Monthly Archives: April 2009

A Legal Perspective on the Pros and Cons of Name Styles

By on Posted in Advertising, Almost Advice, Branding, Marketing, Sight, Trademarks

Earlier this week, Guest Blogger Burt Alper from Catchword Branding, provided a marketer’s perspective on the pros and cons of naming styles, here. With that introduction, now seems like a good time to revisit the critically important line — in terms of legal protection — between descriptive and suggestive names, and also provide a handy graphic to illustrate the… Continue Reading

The Pros and Cons of Name Styles: A Marketer’s Perspective

By on Posted in Advertising, Almost Advice, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Sight, Television, Trademarks

Which is better: a descriptive brand name like Rollerblade, an abstract/emotional brand name like Virgin, or a suggestive brand name that hints at either the function or the benefit like Energizer? The lawyers will tell you to go abstract (they like wildly differentiated names because they’re easier to protect). But marketers need more than just… Continue Reading

Baby B’Gosh® : A Shrinking Outfit, Workforce, and Brand Too?

By on Posted in Almost Advice, Branding, Marketing, Sight, Trademarks, TTAB

Tough times call for tough decisions. Brand managers know this as well as anyone, and they are certainly facing some very tough decisions during these challenging economic times. Sometimes shrinking the workforce is considered to be in the best interest of the brand. For example, last week, Carter’s, the parent company of OshKosh B’Gosh, announced that… Continue Reading

Still More on Polaroid: The Call For An Intellectual Property Genius!

By on Posted in Copyrights, Law Suits, Trademarks

Jennifer Bjorhus of the Star Tribune continues her close coverage of the Polaroid bankruptcy saga. For prior Polaroid posts, see here and here. In her latest report, here, the Court appointed receiver in the Polaroid bankruptcy, Doug Kelley, is quoted as saying "It will take an intellectual property genius to tell us whether the rights go along [with… Continue Reading

Barrel O’Fun Bags ‘Red Hot’ Chip Fight

By on Posted in Food, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Product Packaging, Sight, Taste, Trademarks

As you may recall, three weeks ago, I posted about what appeared to be the makings of a "Red, Hot, Chip Fight" between Old Vienna and Barrel O’Fun Snack Foods, over Barrel O’Fun’s use of "Red Hot Ripple" and other elements of trade dress claimed by Old Vienna (see here for my prior post and a side-by-side comparison… Continue Reading

A Rose by Any Other Name

By on Posted in Famous Marks, Marketing

Most of us trademark and marketing types are used to extolling the virtues of a strong brand to our clients – "invest, protect, and build goodwill," we tell them, "and you’ll be on the way to a valuable brand." This philosophy used to hold true even when times were tough – K-mart, Chrysler, and just… Continue Reading

Gatorade v. Powerade (Links to False Advertising Complaint)

By on Posted in Advertising, Dilution, Fair Use, Famous Marks, Food, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademarks

Advertising Age reports of the brand new false advertising lawsuit: Gatorade v. Powerade. Daily Bread reports on the lawsuit too, here. For those of you who have been looking for a copy of the complaint, it is finally available, here (pages 1-7), here (pages 8-14), here (pages 15-18), and here (pages 19-22). More later, but for now the… Continue Reading

Branding Letter “G” — Will Lightning Strike or Will Thunder Be Stolen?

By on Posted in Advertising, AlphaWatch, Branding, Food, Marketing, Sight, Television, Trademarks, Truncation

The makers of Gatorade® apparently like to engage consumers by asking questions. They used to ask, "Is it in You?" The "it" being Gatorade®, of course. Most recently, Gatorade® has embarked on a massive teaser ad campaign — apparently to re-brand Gatorade® — asking, "What is G?" — a question that begs answering in the mysterious… Continue Reading

The Looming Danger of Modernizing a Trademark

By on Posted in Almost Advice, Branding, Loss of Rights, Trademarks

Recently, UnderConsideration’s Brand New blog commented on the new logo adopted by Much Music. After 10 years of using MUCHMOREMUSIC, the logo was changed to MUCHMORE. The new logo is aesthetically more pleasing, but the change raises an important issue. Modernizing old logos can result in abandonment of the old mark, which means a loss of all trademark rights… Continue Reading

Terrifying? No, Just Another “Priceless” Imitation!

By on Posted in Advertising, Copyrights, Fair Use, First Amendment, Infringement, Law Suits, Sight, Trademarks

What is it about some advertising campaigns that make them magnets for imitation? For example, the Got Milk? imitators appear to be endless in numbers, but that is the subject of another post for another day.  For today, with respect to a different imitation magnet: There must be an endless number of creative and original ways to market a series of… Continue Reading

To Be A Pack Rat Or Not

By on Posted in Almost Advice

If someone is trying to interfere with your intellectual property, you need to preserve the evidence—or pay the price. It is likely that RealNetworks Inc. wishes that it had done so.   RealNetworks Inc. sued asking for a declaratory judgment that its product does not infringe the digital copyright law. In turn, Paramount and Other Hollywood movie studios… Continue Reading

SCI FI to Enter the Black Hole

By on Posted in Branding

The Sci Fi Channel is changing its name to SyFy and the tag line “Imagine Greater”:     Into the black hole will go the name Sci Fi, along with the Saturn logo. Company officials noted one problem with the former mark was that it was generic and could not be trademarked, although Universal Television Networks… Continue Reading

Non-Verbal Logos That Can Stand Alone, And One That Can’t

By on Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Marketing, Sight, Trademarks

Even young children understand the power of brands and trademark symbols before they can read. Years ago, when my children were at the ripe young age of wondering (and maybe caring) what my job was, I’d try to explain the kinds of things a trademark attorney might do. Of course, I didn’t tell them some view trademark types as "the… Continue Reading

Does Anyone Remember Spy vs. Spy?

By on Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Marketing, Television

If you’ve been tuning in to any television programming over the past months, it’s more likely than not that you have encountered a Coke vs. Coke Zero commercial. These commercials cleverly pit representatives of Coca-Cola against Coke Zero because Coke Zero has “misappropriated” Coca-Cola’s flavor in a low-cal drink. The commercials provide entertaining theories from taste infringement… Continue Reading