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Category Archives: Goodwill

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Red Solo Cup Inspiration?

By on Posted in Audio, Branding, Dilution, Goodwill, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Trademarks

Marketing types, it may well be obvious to some, but it is always important to consider the source of inspiration for the branding and marketing of the products and services you promote. At least for those who follow country singer Toby Keith, with a Costco retail end-cap display like this, it’s hard not to assume where the… Continue Reading

Goodwill Inflation?

By on Posted in Goodwill, Trademarks

–Dan Kelly, Attorney Meet my trusty GE Electronic Digital FM/AM Clock Radio, Model No. 7-4624: I don’t know if I can pinpoint it exactly, but this puppy has been with me for somewhere along the lines of twenty-eight years. It has been with me through junior high, high school, college, teaching, law school, lawyerdom, marriage,… Continue Reading

Tiger Traded for Candy?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Goodwill, Guest Bloggers, Marketing

Recently capturing this Accenture billboard in the Minneapolis airport, I couldn’t help but be struck by how far the Accenture brand has moved from its previously prized spokesperson and celebrity Tiger Woods, apparently just in time for Tiger’s recent rebound on the golf course — I’ll refrain from calling it a comeback. I’m not sure where his… Continue Reading

Can a Domain Name Amplify Trademark Confusion?

By on Posted in Domain Names, Goodwill, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks

–Dan Kelly, Attorney There has been at least one interesting trademark-related story in the wake of the Rush Limbaugh flap.  Health insurance company Humana Inc. and its subsidiary Concentra Health Services, Inc. sued Preval Group, LLC for an injunction against Preval’s use of CONCENTRA in connection with a “memory pill.” Humana raised the issue of… Continue Reading

A Capote Christmas

By on Posted in Goodwill

–Dan Kelly, Attorney Last year, I posted a passage from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to put us in a right mood for Christmas Day.  This year, I give you some images from Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory”: Of the ingredients that go into our fruitcakes, whiskey is the most expensive, as well as the hardest… 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, Trademark Bullying, 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

What Do The Words You Choose Imply?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, False Advertising, Goodwill, Marketing

The words we choose to use in commercial signage, advertising, and marketing materials mean something. That’s why we use them, to communicate a fact, an opinion, or perhaps some other message. The use of certain words, can carry implied meanings too, some intended, and perhaps some unintended. For example, yesterday Seth Godin wrote this about… Continue Reading

Intellectual Property Plaintiff Admits to Being Ignorant?

By on Posted in Copyrights, Goodwill, Infringement, Law Suits, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Trademarks

About a week ago another interesting federal intellectual property case was filed in the District of Minnesota: Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. v. Puffin Software et al. Although the four count complaint includes a federal unfair competition claim, a Minnesota deceptive trade practices claim, and a common law unjust enrichment claim, the case really appears to be centered around the copyright infringement… Continue Reading

Congratulations on the Acquisition…Now About That Brand…

By on Posted in Branding, Goodwill, Guest Bloggers

Matt Kucharski, Senior Vice President, Padilla Speer Beardsley It looks like Forbes was right when it reported in late 2010 that 2011 would be a year of mergers and acquisitions. We’ve seen a significant number of clients announcing mergers with and acquisitions of both competitors and complementary players, and while the motivations are varied – expanded… Continue Reading

“We’re waiting for the rest of it . . . .”

By on Posted in Branding, Goodwill, Marketing, Search Engines, Trademarks

Sixteen pairs of experienced computer users are asked to beta test your on-line product and each of them just stare at the screen until they are asked "what’s wrong?" They reply almost in unison, "we’re waiting for the rest of it." Would you have been discouraged by their almost unanimous response? Kind of like the emperor,… Continue Reading

Tattoos & Hangovers: The Headache of Competing IP Rights

By on Posted in Agreements, Branding, Contracts, Copyrights, Goodwill, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks

A month ago the hot news was the federal copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Mike Tyson’s facial tattoo artist S. Victor Whitmill against Warner Brothers Entertainment, and Whitmill’s attempt to block the Memorial Day release of the highly anticipated blockbuster sequel movie The Hangover Part II, based on the film maker’s unauthorized reproduction and/or derivative of the tattoo… Continue Reading

Who Owns a Dead Brand?

By on Posted in Branding, Goodwill, Guest Bloggers, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Trademarks, TTAB

- John Reinan, Senior Director at Fast Horse, a Minneapolis marketing agency I love “orphan” cars — the marques that have gone out of business. Most of them are barely remembered by Baby Boomers, much less anyone younger. Packard, Hudson, Nash, Studebaker, Willys – these and other automakers often were stylistically and technically more advanced… Continue Reading

Coca-Cola’s Consistency Most Remarkable

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Goodwill, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Television, Trademarks

—David Mitchel, Norton Mitchel Marketing Coca-Cola is celebrating its 125th birthday this month. A 125 year history as a brand is quite remarkable. Very few brands last that long. In its 125 history, Coca-Cola has become an iconic brand globally. Coca-Cola is a great case in showing the importance of the various elements of the… Continue Reading

Aflac Duck Speechless Over Gilbert Gottfried’s Firing

By on Posted in Advertising, Audio, Branding, Contracts, Goodwill, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sound, Television, Trademarks

–Dan Kelly, Attorney If the Charlie Sheen train wreck has not offered enough fodder for your idle moments, this week Aflac fired Gilbert Gottfried as the voice of the Aflac Duck due to tasteless jokes that Gottfried tweeted in the wake of last week’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  Where Sheen was the face of… Continue Reading

The Galleria of Retail Jewelry Store Taglines

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Goodwill, Marketing, Television, Trademarks

 On this Valentine’s Day, after enduring weeks of the same endless running of national retail jewelry chain advertising, leading up to this annually celebrated day of love and affection, I thought it might be fitting to try a few retail jewelry store taglines on for size and examine – at least from a trademark perspective – their protect-ability and likely placement on the… Continue Reading

Trademark Bully Update: IPO Says Not a Problem

By on Posted in Famous Marks, Goodwill, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademark Bullying, Trademarks

The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) submitted its comments last Friday in response to the USPTO’s recent invitation for input on whether “trademark bullying” is a problem. In response to the USPTO’s key question “Do you think trademark ‘bullies’ are currently a problem for trademark owners, and if so, how significant is the problem?” IPO… Continue Reading

Another Victory for Lombardi

By on Posted in Copyrights, Goodwill, Infringement, Law Suits, Trademarks

–Dan Kelly, Attorney There have been a number of NFL headlines out of Minnesota this season, most of them ranging from ridiculous to deflating, that is, if you’ve been following the (mostly) hapless Vikings and their hapless stadium. Here’s one from last week:  the NFL won a motion for partial summary judgment in Minnesota’s Federal District Court… Continue Reading

A Dickensian Portrait of Christmas Day

By on Posted in Advertising, Food, Goodwill, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch

–Dan Kelly, Attorney I’ve often thought that copy writers could do worse than to make a close study of some of Charles Dickens’ work.  Perhaps too wordy a model for most copy, especially advertising and marketing copy, but he could paint a picture with words. [T]he people who were shovelling away on the housetops were… Continue Reading

Trademark Case to “Watch”: Rolex Sues Rollx Vans in Minnesota

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

          Another interesting trademark case was filed last Thursday in Minnesota federal district court, captioned Rolex Watch U.S.A., Inc. v. Associated Partnership Ltd., d/b/a Rollx Vans and d/b/a www.RollxVans.com. Here is a pdf of the Complaint and the attached Exhibit. The crowned plaintiff really needs no introduction. On the other hand, the defendant Rollx Vans is… Continue Reading

Life Imitating Art: Service So Bad, It’s Good

By on Posted in Goodwill, Marketing, Search Engines

–Dan Kelly, Attorney :-(   I have long enjoyed the offerings of Despair, Inc., the outfit that has built a business out of parodying Successories–the makers of those know-them-when-you-see-them corporate motivational posters.  Despair offers, among other things, DEMOTIVATORS® posters.  The entirety of the despair.com website reinforces the Despair brand and image.  (An empty “shopping cart” is… Continue Reading