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Category Archives: Branding

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This Mac Needs a Knife Too

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Marketing, Trademarks, Truncation, USPTO

Louis Armstrong first performed “Mack the Knife” in 1956, a year later McDonald’s introduced the Big Mac, and then, Bobby Darin’s version of ”Mack the Knife” became a chart-topper in 1959. So, these events were all before my time, but I’m left wondering if there was any connection between them, back in the day, or whether they were an unrelated coincidence… Continue Reading

There’s always money in the banana-based intellectual property rights…

By on Posted in Advertising, Agreements, Branding, Contracts, Copyrights, Famous Marks, Infringement, Law Suits, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks

In its list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the Rolling Stone ranked the 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico at number 13 – not bad for the band’s very first album.  The album had a simple cover, some would say iconic, cover:   And get this: the banana peel was actually a… Continue Reading

Banksy, I Thought We Were Friends

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Idea Protection, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, SoapBox, Squirrelly Thoughts

I have blogged before about one of my favorite graffiti artists, Banksy. Recently there has been some buzz in the ad world about another provocative work attributed to him. It involves a well-known bottle and trademark that Steve has been posting about frequently over the past several weeks. Normally I would post an image of it here, but… Continue Reading

Tie Goes to the Brand or Generic Name?

By on Posted in Articles, Branding, Food, Genericide, Law Suits, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks, TTAB, USPTO

Boys baseball occupied a fair portion of my evenings last week and this past weekend, a game where almost everyone has at least heard: The tie goes to the runner (when it comes to running the bases anyway – because when it comes to the final score the game continues until someone wins, even if it takes twenty… Continue Reading

Are You Famous Enough?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Food, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Trademarks

If you are Samuel R. Mott, founder of Mott’s LLP, apparently the answer is no.  Mott’s LLP filed applications to register “MOTT’S” for “baby foods” and “packaged combinations consisting of fresh fruit.”  (Serial Nos. 85/374,805 & 85/436,615) The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“the Board”) refused to register the marks set forth in these applications… Continue Reading

NY ♥ TM

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Copyrights, Dilution, Fair Use, Famous Marks, Idea Protection, Infringement, Marketing, SoapBox, Trademark Bullying, Trademarks

Last week I stopped at a local wine and beer store to pick up a bottle of wine to bring to a friend’s dinner party (but also couldn’t resist purchasing a 4-pack of Surly’s Bitter Brewer. I had never seen it before, but highly recommend it). As I walked back to my car I noticed a pile of… Continue Reading

Another Nominative Fair Use Example?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Fair Use, Food, Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, Trademarks

Twitter seems to be going strong, despite early questions about whether it would ever shed the notion of being a waste of time, as evidenced by this currently running billboard ad: To the extent this billboard looks familiar (admittedly a more diminutive glass here), you might recall my questions about it three years ago: Marketing Nirvana… Continue Reading

Is Product Placement Out of Place? Not Yet

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Mixed Bag of Nuts

- John Reinan, Senior Director, Media Relations, Fast Horse Steve Baird recently wrote about the use of real brand names on fictional products in entertainment. Branching off from that thought, I began wondering about the future of product placement in TV, movies and online entertainment (also known as embedded marketing). Product placement has been around… Continue Reading

Distinguishing the Fictional From the Real: Names and Brands in Television and Movies

By on Posted in Agreements, Branding, Dilution, Fair Use, Famous Marks, First Amendment, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Television, Trademarks

We have an interesting question to answer, leading us into the holiday weekend, during which I suspect a few movies will be watched by more than a few marketing types and trademark types: “Is it trademark infringement if a fictional company or product in a movie or television drama bears the same name or brand as a real… Continue Reading

Louboutin International Trademark Dispute

By on Posted in Branding, Infringement, International, Trademarks

Those of us who love fashion and have closets overflowing with more pairs of shoes than we probably need are likely familiar with Louboutin pumps. These sky-high heels have a very distinctive look and design. Louboutin heels have recently been the subject of trademark controversy here in the United States. As Tiffany Blofield noted in a blog… Continue Reading

Nutty News: Dear Biggest Fan, Here’s a Cease-and-Desist Letter

By on Posted in Almost Advice, Branding, Domain Names, Fair Use, Famous Marks, Food, Social Media, Squirrelly Thoughts, Trademark Bullying, Trademarks

You have to be one big fan of a company or product to establish a World {What-You-Cannot-Live-Without} Day.  Well, a sticky situation with the well-known hazelnut spread Nutella may have you rethinking your public affection. Back in 2007, Sarah Rosso (Nutella Fan) established World Nutella Day to celebrate her affection for Nutella.  Within the past… Continue Reading

A Question, a Funny and a Curiosity: Three Things Coming from a Trip to New York City

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts

First, the curiosity, when you see a gaggle of characters and then notice they all have “tip purses” in some form with their respective costumes, beware. In a visit with a media company in Times Square (Viacom specifically) we had to pass a few of these characters who were looking to have their photo taken… Continue Reading

The Most Famous Bottle Design, Forever?

By on Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Food, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Packaging, Sight, Trademarks

Coca-Cola settled on its famous contour bottle design almost 100 years ago, in 1916, after several years of trials with other far less distinctive shapes (at least under today’s standards): Federal trademark registration data confirms the first use date to be July 8, 1916. The description of the contour bottle design mark in 1960 was: “The… Continue Reading

Oreo: interactive food, interactive brands

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking

Oreo consistently receives media attention and accolades for their use of non-traditional media. They have created numerous memorable advertising moments through their twitter account. The stand out is of course their Super Bowl power outage tweet: The ad was widely regarded as one of the best of the Super Bowl, even though it cost zero… Continue Reading

Are TV & Digital Mutually Exclusive? Not at All: Why Multi-Channel Marketing Makes Sense

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology, Television

- David Mitchel, Director of Marketing – Distribion, Inc. AdAge posted an article today featuring CBS CEO Les Moonves commenting why his network is a better fit for media buyers than digital media. One quote attributed to Moonves was: “If you need to reach a mass audience, you’re not going to get that online….We figured… Continue Reading

It’s Raining Fluid Trademarks

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, Trademarks

So-called “fluid” trademarks are gaining a recent downpour of attention – on Monday INTA wrote about them in the Daily News distributed in Dallas at INTA’s 135th Annual Meeting, it also held a panel discussion on the topic the same date (we’ll have more about that next week), and just yesterday guest-blogger Jason Voiovich provided an insightful marketer’s… Continue Reading

Oh Ketchup…I’m Just Not That Into You: Understanding the Value of Fluid Trademarks

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Configurations, Product Packaging, Trademarks

- Jason Voiovich, Director of Corporate Marketing, Logic PD Don’t get me wrong.  My two children elevate their weekly Heinz intake regimen to near Olympian discipline.  But me?  I enjoy a good dollop with pound of fries at the Lion’s Tap, but I haven’t given America’s second-favorite red condiment a second thought since John Kerry… Continue Reading

Rapala Billboard Ads Continue to Engage

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Patents, Product Configurations, Search Engines, Sight, Trademarks, USPTO

It’s that time of year again. The fishing opener in Minnesota is upon us this coming Saturday, so Rapala is sporting its new billboard advertisement. Judging from USPTO trademark filings, it looks like the cutesy “Bass Friends Forever“ tagline is intended to adorn clothing items too. You will recall that we have consistently covered various iterations of the Rapala billboard… Continue Reading

Protecting Non-Functional Product Design Features Through The Entire Life Cycle: From Conception to Grave

By on Posted in Branding, Contracts, Guest Bloggers, Idea Protection, Patents, USPTO

- Jeffrey Stone, Patent Attorney, Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A. IP protection for product designs is typically found in a combination of one or more of the following protective mechanisms: 1. Contracts which are typically used with employees and 3rd parties to prevent loss of novelty as well as provide notice of ownership. Contractual protections such… Continue Reading

OfficeMax’s Rubber Band Ball Brand Symbol

By on Posted in Branding, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, Trademarks

OfficeMax has been sporting its friendly and colorful rubber band ball brand signal on billboard advertising and delivery trucks for some time, but yesterday is the first time I’ve noticed prominent static use of the bouncy rubber band ball as a non-verbal logo on storefront signage positioned next to the OfficeMax brand name (like the… Continue Reading

Twitter Can Be a Brand Marketer’s Best Friend

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Search Engines, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology

- Debbie Laskey, MBA If you’re a marketer, you probably spend a great deal of your day checking Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and LinkedIn. Depending on your industry, you may also spend time on YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, and any number of other peripheral sites. But did you know that Twitter can be your best friend… Continue Reading