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Category Archives: Genericide

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Lacking Credibility

By on Posted in Almost Advice, Branding, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks

I’ll have to say, I really enjoyed Aaron Keller’s guest post from yesterday. In addition to the valuable insights he provided, it got me thinking about some perhaps unrelated, but parallel topics of likely interest to legal and marketing types. Aaron wrote about the importance of a brand being honest with itself and others. He expressed the need… Continue Reading

Webinar: Hot Marketing Topics with Trademark & Legal Implications

By on Posted in Branding, Genericide, Guest Bloggers, Look-For Ads, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Configurations, Product Packaging, Trademarks

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of participating in a ninety-minute webinar with my good friend, frequent and eloquent guest-blogger on DuetsBlog – Aaron Keller of Capsule – complete with some friendly banter on the following: "Hot Marketing Topics with Trademark and Legal Implications." Minnesota Continuing Legal Education has generously provided a link where the webinar can be viewed in its entirety, here. As you’ll… Continue Reading

Brilliant Trademark Advice or Baloney?

By on Posted in Almost Advice, Genericide, Marketing, Trademarks

A few bits of trademark advice recently passed across my screen from The Marketing Blog: Turning Entrepreneurs Into Marketers – advice that I believe deserves some friendly comment and critique, leaving you to decide whether any of it rises to the level of brilliant trademark advice or sinks to the level of trademark baloney: "Trademark as you go. Don’t wait… 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

When You Verb Your Trademark, You Know What?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Television, Trademarks

Well, perhaps more than just about every trademark use guideline in existence, including those offered by the International Trademark Association (INTA) ("NEVER use a trademark as a verb"):  (television commercial link on Youtube here) Maybe because you have been following the trademark verbing dialogue here on DuetsBlog and you have learned all about Managing The Legal Risk of… Continue Reading

Messin’ With Google

By on Posted in Advertising, Genericide, Law Suits, Marketing, Search Engines, Television, Trademarks

What does Google have in common with Sasquatch? Well, perhaps one possible point of similarity is that if you mess with either, you might get yourself seriously messed up in the process. With respect to the defensive power of Sasquatch, a local Wisconsin business success story, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, has gotten much notoriety with its series of hilarious 30-second television… Continue Reading

A Legal Obligation to Enforce Trademark Rights?

By on Posted in Dilution, Fair Use, Famous Marks, Genericide, Infringement, Law Suits, Loss of Rights, Trademarks

When trademark owners are accused of bullying and shamed in public, a common and knee-jerk defensive response to justify the cease and desist letter or enforcement action is: "We have a legal duty and obligation to police and enforce our trademark rights." And, some might even go on to say: "If we don’t enforce our mark against this use,… Continue Reading

A Few Trademark Grammar School Facts

By on Posted in Copyrights, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Configurations, Trademarks, Truncation

Any recent graduate of trademark grammar school knows, at least, the following twenty facts (perhaps there is, at least, one opinion among them): A trademark identifies, distinguishes, and indicates the origin of goods; A trademark should be searched and cleared before adoption and first use; A trademark needs a trademark attorney to take a position on availability; A trademark… Continue Reading

Is the iPad Name Going Generic?

By on Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Genericide, Guest Bloggers, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Search Engines, Trademarks

—Mark Prus, Marketing Consultant at NameFlashSM Like many professional name developers, I opened 2010 by making fun of the Apple iPad name. Steve Jobs gave a strong case for naming the “tablet pc” in a way that was consistent with previous Apple naming conventions (iPod, iTunes, iPhone), but many of us poked fun at the… Continue Reading

How Realistic is the Risk of Trademark Genericide?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks

The Grand Marshal in the Parade of Horribles, at least for some trademark types, is the one who forbids any deviation from the absolute "rule" against using brand names and trademarks as nouns or verbs, a standard "rule" commonly found in trademark use guidelines (only permitting the use of trademarks as adjectives). As I have written about previously, these "rules"… Continue Reading

Get a Load of This: General Mills Takes Offense in Trademark Spat Over Spuds

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

          They say that the best defense is a good offense. It appears that General Mills has adopted this strategy in a recent trademark dispute over the term LOADED in connection with instant potatoes. Just yesterday, the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal reported the filing of a federal district court lawsuit by General Mills against Idahoan Foods, in which… Continue Reading

Managing The Legal Risk of “Verbing Up” Brands and Trademarks

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Domain Names, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks

Trademark lawyers need to face the facts. Despite decades of ardent counseling to the contrary, business executives and marketers are not only testing the waters with the treatment of their most valuable brands as verbs, in some cases, they are diving in head first, committing substantial resources and effort toward the clearly stated goal of "verbing up" and having their brands used as verbs by… Continue Reading

Another Marketing Pitfall: How to Crush a Smashing Brand Name & Trademark

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks

Last week we blogged about the dreaded D-Word and how some marketers unwittingly undermine trademark rights in a brand name by explaining that the name "describes" or is "descriptive" of the goods or services sold under the brand. We also have blogged about the danger of "taking a suggestive name, mark, or tag-line, and using it descriptively in… Continue Reading

What a Crock, Pot That Is . . .

By on Posted in Branding, Genericide, Infringement, Keyword Ads, Law Suits, Marketing, Search Engines, Trademarks

We’re not talking the foamed footwear Crocs® that Randall Hull wrote about in his What a Croc! post from a couple of weeks ago. Instead, we’re talking slow cookers — on this snow-capped Valentine’s Day in the Twin Cities. Every once in a while a stroll down the grocery store aisle leaves me surprised when… Continue Reading

Kleenex® Not Wanting to Blow It: Some Steps to Avoid Trademark Genericide

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks

This sponsored banner ad is currently appearing in AdAge’s Daily News on-line newsletter: How many boxes of tissue do you suppose this ad is responsible for selling? If the answer is none, that is probably fine with Kimberly-Clark since the return on investment for this ad is measured quite differently, I’m sure, given how the frequently misused Kleenex®… Continue Reading

From Trademark to Tin God: Long Live the King?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Television, Trademarks

A few years ago, the world was introduced to arguably the creepiest fast food mascot of all time: The King.  For many of us, this introduction came courtesy of a frightening commercial suggesting that we "Wake Up With The King."  Over the following years, TK expanded his popularity.  He went from our bedrooms to our… Continue Reading

Genericide Watch: Frisbee, Hula Hoop, Slip ‘N Slide, and Super Ball

By on Posted in Genericide

Wham-O, Inc. has had its share of hits over the years, achieving "household name" status (my opinion) with an impressive list of trademarked (I am not afraid to use it as a verb) products: FRISBEE for "toy flying saucers for toss games" HULA HOOP for "plastic toy hoops" SUPER BALL for "sport and toy balls" SLIP ‘N SLIDE for a "flexible plastic water slide"… Continue Reading

To Google Or Not To Google

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Genericide, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Search Engines, Trademarks

Full disclosure…I own Google stock. I like their products and their potential. However, I am more than a bit concerned about how they use their names and trademarks. Microsoft® names its products in a traditional fashion. Microsoft is the company; names like Windows, Silverlight, Bing are clearly the products. A very logical naming architecture that makes it clear where… Continue Reading

Just Verb It? Part III: Testing the “Slippery Slope” of Using Brands as Verbs

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks

Although intellectual property lawyers of the Dr. No variety may not like to admit it – I submit that, not all slippery slopes are created equal. While some slippery slope cautions might prevent a few bumps and bruises in traveling along a particular path (e.g., the one on the left below), I suspect far fewer slippery slope… Continue Reading