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Category Archives: Food

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MOM’s New Look

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Marketing

Just announced yesterday, Minneapolis based Malt-O-Meal has changed its name to MOM Brands. Malt-O-Meal which has been making cereal for almost a century, manufactures private label brands for a multitude of grocery retailers (as well as their own lines of hot and cold cereal and oatmeal) and today stands as one of the nation’s leading… Continue Reading

BIG GINGER Trademark Dispute

By on Posted in Branding, Food, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademarks

Twin Cities quasi-celebrity Kieran Folliard grabbed headlines this week by suing the owners of Jameson Irish Whiskey, Pernod Ricard, for trademark infringement.  Folliard is well known in the Twin Cities for founding a chain of pubs, including Cooper, Kieran’s Irish Pub, The Liffey, and The Local.  Of these, The Local serves a locally well-known drink… Continue Reading

Changing Your Brand Color: No More Golden Arches?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Food, International, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks

Last year I had a running discussion on color trademarks.  I blogged about the issues surrounding the protection of a color as a non-traditional trademark, the impact of industries clustering around a particular color, and the concern that functionality may impede protection of a color trademark.  Need a refresher? Check here, here, here, and here…. Continue Reading

Chevy Silverado Super Bowl Ad

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Fair Use, False Advertising, Food, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Television, Trademarks

Absorbing all the television commercials in between football action on the field can be as much fun on Super Bowl Sunday as the actual game itself, at least for trademark and marketing types, especially when your favorite team isn’t even on the field. One of my personal favorites from this past weekend’s Super Bowl XLVI was the… Continue Reading

Decide on the “Why,” Not the “What”

By on Posted in Articles, Branding, Food, Guest Bloggers, Marketing

—Mark Prus, Principal, NameFlashSM Name Development If you have kids, you know that they all pass through the “Why Phase,” where they keep asking “Why?” until you ultimately resort to the conversation-ending phrase “Ask your Mother (or Father).” You probably are also familiar with the “5 Whys” technique of asking “Why” at least 5 times… Continue Reading

Brands on Decline in 2012

By on Posted in Branding, Food

Predictions are in and multiple brands are expected to decline or disappear completely in 2012.  CoreBrand CEO, James Gregory (as reported by Jim Edwards), and 24/7 Wall Street have both released lists of brands they believe are on the chopping block for the coming year. The predictions attribute some of these brand failures to the… Continue Reading

When it Comes to Guest Blogging: Fine or Just Fine?

By on Posted in Branding, False Advertising, Food, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Trademarks

In many contexts of our life experience, "fine" sadly seems to have drifted toward embodying mediocrity. Consider this all too common dialogue: "How are you?" "Oh, I’m fine."  Or, perhaps, "Just fine." Translation: "O.K.," "average," "acceptable," "passable," "satisfactory," "I can’t complain," "I’ve been better," or maybe "could be much better" . . . . After all, how interested or… Continue Reading

Eat More Anything?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Infringement, Marketing, Television, Trademarks, TTAB

An allegation of trademark bullying is in the news again, this time Chick-fil-A is the accused Goliath – charged with overreaching in its enforcement efforts relating to intellectual property rights in the very clever and creative EAT MOR CHIKIN a/k/a The Cow Campaign and advertisements: Perhaps you’re wondering what aspect of the Cow Campaign Chick-fil-A is seeking to protect?… Continue Reading

Putting the Shoe on the Other Tootsie

By on Posted in Agreements, Branding, Dilution, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Food, Goodwill, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Trademarks

There was a time when a certain kind of small business owner – strapped for cash — with a meager promotional budget, easily could be tempted to adopt a "clever" name, as a "short-cut," to "play off" a well-known, iconic brand, but in the end, he or she probably was convinced by counsel that doing so would be… Continue Reading

High Fructose Corn Syrup, Thy Name is Not Corn Sugar

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, False Advertising, Food, Law Suits, Marketing

More than a year ago, I blogged about high fructose corn syrup getting a makeover.  The Corn Refiners Association has undertaken a campaign to rename high fructose corn syrup as "corn sugar."   (See SweetSurprise.com and CornSugar.com to be indoctrinated.) I recently learned that a number of sugar companies (that’s cane sugar or beet sugar) sued… Continue Reading

Artisan Puffery?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Genericide, Marketing, Trademarks

There once was a day when being an "artisan" meant something: "A person or company that makes a high-quality, distinctive product in small quantities, usually by hand using traditional methods: artisan foods." The key elements of an artisan’s handiwork seem to be hand-crafted, distinctive products of high-quality that are produced in small numbers. Perhaps bread from the… Continue Reading

Excuse Me, There’s Some Ketchup on Your Miracle Whip Bottle

By on Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Food, Marketing, Product Packaging

Today, another chapter of AlphaWatch.  I saw an arresting display of Miracle Whip dressing at my local grocery store a couple of weeks ago.  Certain members of my household cannot stand the stuff, so we don’t generally buy it, and I had been blissfully unaware of the most recent label: I will grudgingly grant that the… Continue Reading

Taste Infringement?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Guest Bloggers, Infringement, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Taste, Trademarks, TTAB

    We’ve spent some time here discussing the world-famous Coca-Cola brand. Most recently, David Mitchell wrote about the incredible consistency of the Coca-Cola brand over the past 125 years. A while back Dave Taylor wrote a nice Ode to the Brand of Brands, the King of Cola: Coke. And, let’s not forget my humble suggestion that… Continue Reading

Trademark Bull?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Look-For Ads, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, Trademarks

In the midst of all our discussion about "trademark bullying," I couldn’t resist picking up this "No Bull" postcard from Manny’s Steakhouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota. You may recall Dan previously wrote about Manny’s promoting similar images with the phrase "One Helluva Sac Lunch". Dan also noted the irony of the best beef coming from steers, not… Continue Reading

Colorful Animals…the next trend in food?

By on Posted in Food

Just the other day I was perusing one of my local food blog roll favorites, the Hot Dish section of City Pages, when I learned that a new coffee shop, Blue Ox, is opening not too far from where I live.  The new shop, joins another local “ox” in town, Green Ox, purveyor of (delicious,… Continue Reading

Reese for Sheriff?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Dilution, Fair Use, First Amendment, Food, Guest Bloggers, Product Packaging, Trademarks

Hat tip to Dave Taylor who provided this photo for some discussion: Looks like a fellow named Mark Reese, currenting Acting Sheriff, is running for Sheriff in Lancaster Country, Pennsylvania, right in Hershey’s backyard. Do you suppose this Hershey’s trade dress may have inspired the Acting Sheriff’s campaign?  Your thoughts on whether Hershey’s has a claim?… Continue Reading

TryMe? Trademark or Informational Matter?

By on Posted in Branding, Fair Use, Food, Guest Bloggers, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks, TTAB

  I’d venture to say that virtually every product sitting on a store shelf is crying out "try me" — some more colorfully than others, some more subtly than others, some more creatively than others, some more persuasively than others. However, most don’t just some out and say the words. Assuming that to be the case, is… Continue Reading

That Purple Cereal

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Fair Use, Food, Infringement, Marketing, Product Packaging, Sight

As you likely know, many of the Duets Blog bloggers were involved in a full day trademark CLE last week. One of the sessions focused on the issues facing private label brands and the line between identifying your competitor by using similar packaging and infringing on their trademark or trade dress. Along those lines, a friend… Continue Reading

Samuel Adams Better Beer Glass . . . No Trademark For You?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Configurations, Product Packaging, Sight, Trademarks

If the "Soup Nazi" were employed as a Trademark Examining Attorney at the USPTO, he might be heard crabbing at the makers of Samuel Adams Boston Lager, were they to attempt to register or claim as a trademark the shape of their "new" beer glass from 2007, now almost four years old: "No trademark for you!" ("Best… Continue Reading