News Flash: Dilbert on "Trademark Infringement Lawyers"

Posted on September 10, 2009 by Steve Baird

Clients and friends have enjoyed passing yesterday's Dilbert cartoon on to me, just for fun (I think).

So, for those of you who weren't sure we could take not only a lawyer joke, but a "trademark infringement lawyer" joke, read on:

Having said that, I think we already demonstrated our ability to self-deprecate with the best of them, by adopting our favorite cartoon labeling the "trademark attorney" as "the most basic figure," here.

OK, show of hands, how many of you have left the world of patents for trademarks?

For a post that points out the confusion between patents and trademarks, see Techdirt.

One more show of hands, how many of you are billing by the hour?

I have no more questions.

Likelihood of Confusion, weighs in on the subject, here.

For perhaps the most detailed and cat-like analysis of the subject, see IPKat, here.

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The Power of Exponents in Branding: DuetsBlog Serves Over 10,000 Unique Visitors

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Steve Baird

 vintage McDonald's sign by lalajean_g.

Our celebration at DuetsBlog earlier this month on passing the 10,000 unique visitor milestone in four-short months online got us thinking about Big Mac and about the iconic McDonald's Golden Arches signage, touting and counting how many McDonald's hamburgers have been sold or served at any given point in time. We began to wonder, ahem, should we start searching on Ebay, at garage sales, or elsewhere for some vintage McDonald's signage that might be adapted for our admittedly more modest purposes?

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The Real Housewife Needs To Pay Attention To Branding

Posted on April 26, 2009 by Tiffany Blofield

 As I was thinking about what to blog about, I had my guilty pleasure “The Real Housewives of New York” on television in the background. One of the real housewives, Ramona, was bored and so she had developed a skin care line. I have no idea if the products are any good, but I agree with her friend who lectured Ramona about her brand. The skin care line had a product with “Tru” and another one with “True.”  She told Ramona that she needed to figure out which way she wanted to spell true and stick with it for all of the products. Brands must be carefully developed and protected.

Although maybe the real housewife had something, could you develop a successful skin care line brand by spelling words in product names in more than one way? For example, there could be: “Coffee Cream” and “Koffee lipstick”; and “Berry Surprise Cream” and "Berri Blush”  

Maybe the wealthy real housewife had just returned from Japan where the Muji company does not brand its products. It follows the "no brand branding" philosophy (as does American Apparel). Muji means “no label” in English. Rather than advertising, Muji obtains business through word of mouth. Muji’s "no brand branding" philosophy has actually developed a distinct brand for the company.   

What do you think?

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