Social media has become the must-have tool for every marketer and this tool is gaining popularity with every industry. For example, the insurance industry is typically known for more low-key advertising and marketing channels. However, companies like HCC Medical Services, LLC and Blue Cross Blue Shield have jumped on the social media band wagon. HCC Medical Services has… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Taking the Cake With Suggestive Trademarks?
Posted in Branding, Food, Marketing, Sight, TrademarksJohn Reinan provided yesterday a marketer’s perspective that questioned the value of coined trademarks. In my experience, as a trademark type, one place on the spectrum of distinctiveness where both trademark and marketing types can have their cake and eat it too, is the delicious category of suggestive trademarks. From the legal side of the coin, suggestive… Continue Reading
A Marketer’s Perspective: Questioning The Value of Coined Trademarks?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, TrademarksI’m thrilled to have this platform to vent about a long-standing beef: awkward, made-up product and company names. Trademark lawyers call them coined. Among the worst offenders are automobiles, technology and finance. When I was a kid, cars had names like Roadmaster, Thunderbird and Catalina. Now a prospective car buyer has to wade through an… Continue Reading
Is Wal-Mart Giving Away Free $1,000 Gift Cards?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Fair Use, Infringement, Marketing, TrademarksSame drill as yesterday. Another email spam scam? More trademark fair use abuse? Is it just me, or is the branded email spam coming out of the virtual woodwork, or what? It appears that spam email – complete with fully branded solicitations — is becoming more and more aggressive, both from legal and technology perspectives. We… Continue Reading
Free Dell XPS Laptop Spam Scam?
Posted in Advertising, Fair Use, Marketing, TrademarksWhat if you were told that if you agreed to "test" a Dell XPS laptop you could keep it, for free? Would you expect the offer to be from Dell Computer? After all, who else but the manufacturer would care to give a computer away for simply having you test it? Would you at least expect… Continue Reading
The Freezman Cometh?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, TrademarksWorries about having a white Christmas in Minneapolis and elsewhere have been quiet this year. Thus far, we have spent far more than our typical time shoveling some especially heavy wet snow this holiday season, but don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I do have snow on my mind, however, because each time I think… Continue Reading
One Cool Yule
Posted in GoodwillToday’s lesson is brought to us by WPIX TV out of New York. They get it. Sometimes, it pays to give things away. Merry Christmas!
Civil War II: North (Face) vs. South (Butt)
Posted in Dilution, Fair Use, InfringementIf you’ve been paying attention on the trademark litigation front, you may have heard that The North Face recently brought a lawsuit against a freshman at the University of Missouri, Jimmy Winkelman, who has been selling clothing under the name The South Butt. Aside from the obvious trademark question of whether the consuming public is,… Continue Reading
An Ode to the Brand of Brands, the King of Cola: Coke
Posted in Guest BloggersDear Coke: I love you. You are an incredible product. You are the Babe Ruth of soft drinks, the proprietor of the word “cola,” and most of all, the brand of all brands. Your brand is not just bulletproof; it’s indestructible—even from self-inflicted damage. Interbrand, the global branding giant, recently valued you at… Continue Reading
The Merger of Two Great Cities
Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, MarketingAn open call for change. Change where it counts, in brands. Don’t read this if you have a closed mind and can’t imagine a different future beyond tomorrow. You know who you are, this will make you cringe and we don’t need that on our conscience. For the remaining, take a minute to consider… Continue Reading
Gatorade-Powerade False Advertising Case Resolved, For Now
Posted in Advertising, Agreements, AlphaWatch, Branding, Dilution, Famous Marks, Food, Law Suits, Marketing, TruncationYou may recall the Gatorade v. Powerade false advertising lawsuit filed by a Pepsico entity (Stokely-Van Camp, Inc.) against rival The Coca-Cola Company back in April, discussed here (with a copy of the complaint). You also may recall how G scored an F in the courtroom, back in August, losing a hotly contested motion for… Continue Reading
The Faces of American Express
Posted in Advertising, Famous Marks, Marketing, TelevisionEvery once in a while, a really solid advertising campaign comes along that stands out among its peers. There is obviously no accounting for taste, but one characteristic that attracts me is timelessness — timelessness as opposed to trendiness, whether that be embodied in a gag, a joke, a celebrity endorsement, or some other hook… Continue Reading
Shopping for a Trademark
Posted in Advertising, Branding, TrademarksAre you shopping for a trademark? Stores spend lots of money branding their names. Accordingly, many register their store names as trademarks. Over Thanksgiving while shopping in Turkey, I saw the store front sign Inci®. I thought it was unique because you do not often see the ® on a store front sign. For example, you do… Continue Reading
A Business Lesson, Courtesy of Larry Flynt
Posted in TrademarksThe Associated Press reported last week that adult entertainment pioneer Larry Flynt, the creator of the famous, and infamous, Hustler Magazine, scored a victory in his trademark infringement suit against his estranged nephews, who are also in the family business. The nephews, Jimmy Flynt, Jr. and Justin Flynt, launched their business after their uncle fired… Continue Reading
Don’t Expect This to Have Tiger by the Tail…
Posted in Advertising, Agreements, Branding, Contracts, Guest Bloggers, MarketingTiger Woods’ scandal proves once again that celebrity gossip mongering is a blood sport. The bigger the celebrity, the more the blood will flow. In Tiger’s case, he can open up a blood bank. Though it’s unlikely to reach the insanity that was unleashed when Michael Jackson died last summer, it will take the… Continue Reading
Surface Level Branding Runs Deep on This Athletic Field
Posted in Branding, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, TrademarksTo sports fans of this university, December has been a big month because their beloved team finished the 2009 regular football season undefeated (13-0) once again, winning yet another post-season BCS bowl game bid. Next month will be even bigger news if their WAC team happens to defeat TCU in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. To trademark types, however, the biggest news of… Continue Reading
Sleight of Hand? Kimberly-Clark Amends Sensory Touch Mark to Packaging Design Mark
Posted in Branding, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Packaging, Sight, Touch, TrademarksAs you may recall from March of this year, we blogged about Kimberly-Clark’s novel intent-to-use trademark application for a "sensory, touch mark" in connection with disposable paper hand-towels. Other discussions of sensory, touch marks may be found here. In any event, the original description of the claimed Kimberly-Clark trademark was as follows: "The mark consists of… Continue Reading
Holiday Inn Puts Dimmer on Non-Traditional Lighting Trademarks
Posted in Branding, Look-For Ads, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, TrademarksA couple of months ago there was quite a buzz about Holiday Inn’s projected $4 million annual savings by moving to a leaner and greener direction with their adoption of LED lighting on exterior signage. As you may recall, back in June we blogged about Holiday Inn’s interesting effort to federally register a pair of non-traditional lighting trademarks, one employing a green-colored… Continue Reading
Healthy Advertising Practices?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, MarketingBlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota has had a "do" advertising campaign for a few years, which, as the name suggests, focuses on the word "do." I like the billboard ads that are a part of this campaign, which also features the tag line "Groove your body every day." It is a pretty comprehensive campaign, covering television,… Continue Reading
Exponential Growth in the New World of Social Media
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, TasteThis post is not about candy bars or thoughts about whether the cross-section of a candy bar may function as a trademark, for that, see here. This brief post is about a 100 Grand Super Size thank you to all of our readers, those who submit comments, those who offer suggestions, those who follow us… Continue Reading
In the Beginning, There was the Internet and Now…
Posted in Agreements, Almost Advice, Social NetworkingFriendster, the pioneer of social networking, was recently acquired by the Malaysian company MOL Global Pte, which is an affiliate of MOL AccessPortal Berhad, a company that operates and develops payment systems in Asia, for $1.8 billion. I assume at this price the return on investment was pretty nice for the founders of Friendster, but the… Continue Reading
Who Owns a Trademark Worth $19 Million?
Posted in TrademarksIf you have been following the bankruptcy of the Tavern on the Green, you have most likely heard about the controversy surrounding the famous trademark. There are a few parties claiming ownership of the Tavern on the Green trademark, recently appraised at $19 million according to the New York Times. The current licensee, the LeRoy family,… Continue Reading
Does False Advertising Pay in the Baby Formula Business?
Posted in Advertising, Food, Guest Bloggers, Law Suits, MarketingFor Mead Johnson, the maker of Enfamil, $13.5 million is a small price to pay to halt the slide towards store brand formula. Some companies just have a knack for rubbing the federal courts the wrong way. Case in point: Baby formula brand Enfamil and its maker, Mead Johnson Nutrition. Last week, a federal court… Continue Reading
Reverse Domain Name Hijacking: An Emerging Negligence Standard?
Posted in Domain Names, International, TrademarksA recent domain name decision under ICANN’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP Policy), captioned Bin Shabib & Associates (BSA) LLP v. Hebei IT Shanghai ltd c/o Domain Administrator, found reverse domain name hijacking, under some rather interesting, if not questionable circumstances. The Rules that govern the UDRP Policy define Reverse Domain Name HiJacking as "using the… 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...