The United States leads sales for Web-based business software for 2009 accounting for 74% of the $13.2 billion market. While Europe, Africa, and the Middle East were a distant second accounting for 13% of total sales for software-as-a-service (“SaaS”). The difference between the United States and the rest of the world is dramatic, but understandable when you… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: September 2010
I’m With The Brand
Posted in BrandingWhat do Glee, The X-Files, and Kiss have in common? I’ll give you a hint. It’s not kick-ass guitar riffs augmented by over-the-top pyrotechnics (as if there is such a thing as “over-the-top” pyrotechnics – unless you’re Great White). It’s also not that David Duchovny is a huge fan of all three. Give-up? Okay. All three have readily recognizable fan clubs… Continue Reading
Budweiser: Not The King of Generation Y
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Goodwill, Guest Bloggers, International, Marketing, Television—David Mitchel, Norton Mitchel Marketing Budweiser, the self-proclaimed King of Beers, announced a marketing initiative this week to broaden its appeal to drinkers ages 21-30. Although Budweiser is an immensely popular global brand, it has had difficulty in the United States market in recent years. In the US, Budweiser sales volume was down 9% in… Continue Reading
GeeWhiz: Another Edition of Trademark AlphaWatch
Posted in Advertising, AlphaWatch, Branding, Food, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Trademarks, TruncationIn this edition of AlphaWatch, it appears another major brand owner is flirting with truncation and wants to be g too (of course, not to be confused with G2 or even G for that matter), despite the fact that the products associated with each brand might be considered complementary (assuming you’re looking to break a sweat): So,… Continue Reading
Are Georgia-Pacific’s Paper Towel Lawsuits All Wet?
Posted in Branding, Law Suits, TrademarksThere has been a fair amount of ink spilled in the IP blogosphere about last month’s Georgia Pacific v. Von Drehle opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. This is one of several cases that Georgia-Pacific has brought to stop the "stuffing" of off-brand (i.e. non-Georgia-Pacific brand) paper towels in GP’s proprietary enMotion® paper… Continue Reading
Unauthorized Use Double Whammy?
Posted in InfringementAlways on the look out for interesting shopping finds, my husband snapped these photos of a product at a local Lands End store last week. I couldn’t find the backpack on their website to get any further information about it but I do find this use of BMW pretty interesting. We often see clothing… Continue Reading
Trademark Fraud = Reckless Disregard For The Truth?
Posted in TrademarksAaron Keller was busy yesterday making weighty predictions about the basis for our next economy: The Designed Economy. As I prepare to provide attendees at the Midwest IP Institute tomorrow with a trademark fraud update – today, I thought I’d provide a preview – and even go out on a small limb – making a couple of predictions of my own, relating… Continue Reading
The Designed Economy
Posted in Branding, Marketing, Trademarks—Aaron Keller, Managing Principal at Capsule The pattern of our society evolving from agrarian to manufacturing to service economy has been identified by many authors (Joseph Pine and Joe Gilmore being my favorites). Now, the next economy has been predicted to be everything from the information economy, the digital economy, the experience economy and many… Continue Reading
Parking Lot Lures & Twins Brand Bait?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Fair Use, Goodwill, Infringement, Marketing, TrademarksGuys and gals on the street waiving orange flags aren’t the only parking lot lures in Twins Territory: We’ve talked before about how some of those doing business or advertising in close proximity to Minneapolis’ brand new Target Field – home to the Minnesota Twins – appear to see advantage in using the Twins name (and now logo, and/or trade… Continue Reading
High Fructose Corn Syrup Getting a Makeover
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Food, Goodwill, MarketingI read this week that the Corn Refiners Association is making a move to rename high fructose corn syrup to "corn sugar." Interesting and informative article at the NYT. (H/T Elliot’s Blog.) The CRA’s presser, here, is a carefully crafted piece, as it should be. Everything in it, from its subtitle ("Eliminating Consumer Confusion is… Continue Reading
Life-Line to the Lifeblood
Posted in Agreements, Copyrights, Idea Protection, Law SuitsNew ideas are the lifeblood of Hollywood and television, as executives are scrounging to find the next wildly popular Avatar or "Friends." However, there is a little evil known around the industry as idea theft, where a person believes that their idea has been used but they were not given credit or compensation for their… Continue Reading
Apple Tee’s Off its New Social Networking With Ping
Posted in AdvertisingWell, it appears that yesterday’s guest blogger, Andrew Miller, and I are on the same wavelength as I also prepared some thoughts on the new iTunes Ping social networking platform. I guess such is the case in the world of social media where current events can be discussed ad nauseam in a matter of minutes. Apple’s… Continue Reading
PING Golf Plays Nice, Profits from Trademark Deal with Apple
Posted in Agreements, Branding, Famous Marks, Goodwill, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Trademarks—Andrew Miller, Intern, Fast Horse Inc. In terms of name recognition, PING is to golf what Louisville Slugger is to baseball, so you’re right if you found it odd Apple would name its new music-based social network, of all things, Ping. Apple is no stranger to trademark litigation after wrangling with Cisco (“iPhone”) and… Continue Reading
The Meaning of “Readily Identified” in Trademark Nominative Fair Use
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Fair Use, Goodwill, Infringement, Marketing, TrademarksWe’ve talked a lot about the nominative fair use of trademarks. Remember the Cars.com billboard that used the Minnesota Twins name as brand bait? We had some discussion in the comments, where I said this about the Cars.com ad: Although the billboard doesn’t use the Twins script or logo, I still believe the stronger argument… Continue Reading
Can You Rollerblade On K2 Brand In-Line Skates?
Posted in Mixed Bag of NutsThese kinds of signs — that appear to single out Rollerblade brand in-line skate loyalists – are all over the place. This one happens to be in the parking garage I use in downtown Minneapolis. To understand why the Rollerblade brand may find itself in this perilous position, read on, here. For some additional reading on the related question of verbing brands, take a… Continue Reading
What Sells Your Product?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Domain Names, Marketing, Search EnginesWhich of these two signs (generally speaking, not these specific signs) do you think has sold more beer? or It stands to reason that COLD BEER signs have probably moved more product than BUDWEISER signs in the history of time, but, as with all things, context is important. Merge the above train of thought with something else I’ve… Continue Reading
What a Difference a Day Makes
Posted in Food, TrademarksThe website Eater.com has reported that these applications are the result of a “bi-coastal food trademark / bao war!” between New York City chef/restaurateur (and attorney) Eddie Huang, owner of the restaurant Baohaus, and San Francisco-based food truck company Mobi Munch.
Great American Pancakes
Posted in TrademarksOver the Labor Day weekend, my family traveled to a cabin in northern Minnesota, as many families must have done, based upon the amount of traffic coming back into Minneapolis on Monday. On our return trip, our caravan of cars decided to look for a Perkins for breakfast (I grew up in Iowa and for my sister and me,… Continue Reading
When Holes in Markets Can’t Be Filled
Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Product Packaging—David Mitchel, Vice President of Norton Mitchel Marketing Successful brands often find holes in markets that need to be filled. There are numerous examples to illustrate this point. Microsoft found a great niche in the computer software market and their success made Bill Gates one of the richest individuals on the planet. Apple’s iPod was… Continue Reading
Laboring Over Concurrent Trademark Registrations & Frozen Trademark Rights
Posted in Food, Goodwill, Infringement, Loss of Rights, TrademarksToday marks the end of the 2010 Minnesota State Fair. Sad day, but Happy Labor Day! It also marks an opportunity to talk a bit about the frequently encountered question of trademark priority, frozen trademark rights, the creation of common law trademark rights, and the frequently forgotten concurrent registration trademark tool, using my favorite frozen custard stand at the MN State Fair, as… Continue Reading
Wanted: Experienced Trademark Attorney?
Posted in TrademarksA couple of days ago, I promised to try and make the case for why the State of Minnesota ought to hire an experienced trademark attorney. OK, so I’m a day late, but you can decide if I’m a dollar short too. By the way, it was the federal trademark registration record for the below mark… Continue Reading
MMMM . . . More MN State Fair
Posted in BrandingWhat do you think, Mars M&M’s sporting some funky hats?
Fair Logo, Fair Use & Fair Politics? The Minnesota State Fair’s Trademark-on-a-Stick
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Copyrights, Dilution, Fair Use, Famous Marks, First Amendment, Food, Goodwill, Infringement, Marketing, Television, TrademarksThe newest fare at the Minnesota State Fair is not Camel-on-a-Stick, Buffalo-on-a-Stick, or any other kind of Food-on-a-Stick, but rather, Trademark-on-a-Stick. Earlier this week, the Minnesota State Fair (owned and operated by the Minnesota State Agricultural Society, a Minnesota State Agency) was hot to skewer the unauthorized use of its nearly three-decade-old and more recently trademarked logo, by incumbent Republican U.S. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, in a political ad… Continue Reading
El Pollo Loco Goes Loco on Minnesota Restaurant Name
Posted in Mixed Bag of Nuts, Sight, TrademarksWhenever I return from a trip from California, I am always surprised at the number of people who ask whether I visited the palace of hamburgers known as In-N-Out. I’m not much of a burger fan, so my trips to that establishment are rare. I try, however, never to miss a trip to El Pollo… 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...
Catlan McCurdy
Having long been told by my parents that I could do or be anything I wanted, I chose at the age of 10 to become an attorney, as it was the career that would most likely lead me to my goal of becoming the first woman POTUS.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...
Derek Allen
In hindsight, writing about creativity and the law may have always been in the cards for me. I began training for a career in litigation at an early age by finding ways to disagree with pretty much anyone about pretty much anything. In my longest-running “case,” I argued with my middle school math teacher, Mrs. Jabs, for the better part of four years over whether, even if I got the right answer, I had to show my work to get full credit. 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...