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
Category Archives: Search Engines
Subscribe to Search Engines RSS FeedTwitter Can Be a Brand Marketer’s Best Friend
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
The Future of Advertising? Amazon Finds More Ways to Make Money
Posted in Advertising, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Search Engines, Technology—Laura Toledo, Account & Marketing Manager at Tenrec My husband bought me a Kindle Fire last December. At first, I was reluctant to give up hard-copy books, but eventually I became obsessed with it (if anyone from my generation remembers the TV cartoon “Inspector Gadget,” this thing reminds me of Penny’s book/computer). So when the… Continue Reading
Louboutin & Lessons Learned
Posted in Branding, Copyrights, Infringement, Keyword Ads, Law Suits, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Search Engines, Sight, Trademarks, USPTOAs promised, here are some further thoughts, lessons learned, and remaining unanswered questions concerning the recent and long-anticipated decision of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Christian Louboutin S.A. v. Yves Saint Laurent Am. Holding, Inc. Lessons Learned for Marketing Types: Single color trademarks may be owned, registered, and protected when they are distinctive and… Continue Reading
3 Reasons Why Googlers Rarely Read Anything Past Page One
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Search Engines, Social Networking, Technology- Rich Gorman, Direct Response Marketing, serial entrepreneur and innovator On one level, the field of online reputation management is easy to explain. As Cliff Stein, Reputation Changer CEO, likes to say, it’s all about giving companies and individuals some control over how they are portrayed on the Internet. Are you a young professional, desperate to… Continue Reading
Overcoming the Ostrich Strategy by Effectively Using Your Strategic Plan
Posted in Advertising, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Search Engines, Social Networking, Technology- Debbie Laskey and Ward Schendel We all learn a great deal from DuetsBlog and the legal and marketing community assembled by Steve Baird and his team. As guest bloggers on DuetsBlog, we, Debbie Laskey and Ward Schendel, recently had a conversation about the importance of strategic planning and decided to collaborate on a joint… Continue Reading
Apple and Google Set to Litigate Their Patents in the Court of Market Opinion
Posted in Fair Use, Famous Marks, Guest Bloggers, Infringement, Law Suits, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Patents, Search Engines, Technology, Touch, Trademarks, USPTO- Jason Voiovich, Director of Corporate Marketing, Logic PD Last week, the US Patent and Trademark Office conferred upon Apple the Excalibur of intellectual property: The GUI patent that covers the general operation of today’s smartphone and tablet universe. Officially, it is patent 8,223,134 and you can read all about it here, or in excruciating… Continue Reading
Lawyers Should Not Be Paid (More, Usually) For Their Legal Briefs
Posted in Copyrights, Infringement, Search EnginesAt least not by legal research database giants LexisNexis and Westlaw, according to federal judge Jed Rakoff. Those readers who eagerly anticipate the release of my monthly post will certainly remember my April missive about two lawyers who claimed that Lexis and Westlaw were impermissibly profiting by selling access to legal briefs without paying anything to the… Continue Reading
Messin’ With Google
Posted in Advertising, Genericide, Law Suits, Marketing, Search Engines, Television, TrademarksWhat 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
“We’re waiting for the rest of it . . . .”
Posted in Branding, Goodwill, Marketing, Search Engines, TrademarksSixteen 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
And the Oscar Goes To . . .
Posted in Advertising, Infringement, Keyword Ads, Law Suits, Marketing, Search Engines, TrademarksSuccessful trademark enforcement programs . . . .
Is the iPad Name Going Generic?
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
Life Imitating Art: Service So Bad, It’s Good
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
Will Instant Searching Drive Branding?
Posted in Branding, Search Engines–Dan Kelly, Attorney Stephen Stolfi of CT Corsearch wrote an article published on IP Law 360 last week (subscription required) about Google Instant. Google is remarkable enough as is. Google Instant is downright unsettling–a search engine that finds what you’re looking for before you finish typing it in. Mr. Stolfi observes how this might benefit brands… Continue Reading
What Sells Your Product?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Domain Names, Marketing, Search Engines–Dan Kelly, Attorney Which of these two signs (generally speaking, not these specific signs) do you think has sold more beer? or It stands to reason that COLD BEER signs have probably moved more product than BUDWEISER signs in the history of time, but, as with all things, context is important. Merge the above train of thought with… Continue Reading
All in the Name of Vicious Domain Name Grabbing?
Posted in Domain Names, Goodwill, International, Keyword Ads, Marketing, Search Engines, Social Networking, TrademarksWe thought we had arrived when DuetsBlog made a listing of the Top 100 Branding Blogs, and it also was kind of nice when the DuetsBlog mark became federally registered, but now it appears we have reached yet another level of notoriety, appreciation, and respect altogether, as DuetsBlog is now receiving the most thoughtful of email solicitations all the way from Hong… Continue Reading
Save Big What? Where?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Keyword Ads, Marketing, Search Engines, TrademarksSeeing this Cartridge World vehicle bumper led me to wonder, is it possible to save anything big besides money? And, not to worry, I didn’t snap the photo, I was doing the driving. The www.savebig.com website doesn’t seem to offer any help answering my question. According to a more complete Cartridge World slogan, what ever it is you… Continue Reading
Trademark Dilution: What About All “The Other Red Meat(s)”?
Posted in Dilution, Famous Marks, Food, Marketing, Search Engines, Trademarks, TTABLast month the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) refused registration of the slogan THE OTHER RED MEAT for "fresh and frozen salmon," not based on likelihood of confusion, but because it is likely to dilute the distinctive quality of the famous THE OTHER WHITE MEAT slogan of the National Pork Board and National Pork Producers Council. Stay tuned for… Continue Reading
The Sign of a Successful Trademark Enforcement Program
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Copyrights, Infringement, Keyword Ads, Law Suits, Marketing, Search Engines, TrademarksUnable to resist a good trademark story, I snapped this photo in one of the countless gift shops along Hollywood Boulevard, as my family searched for various stars and did the "Walk of Fame," a week or so ago. What drew us into this particular shop was a striking wall full of shelves displaying what appeared to be rows upon… Continue Reading
Seth Godin on Trademark?
Posted in Branding, Dilution, Famous Marks, Idea Protection, Infringement, Law Suits, Marketing, Search Engines, TrademarksSeth Godin has an amazing knack for creating and spreading ideas that matter, mostly really good ones, by the way. I always look forward to his daily riffs and I have been known to spread some of his important ideas too when they overlap with things I happen to care a lot about. When it comes to Mr…. Continue Reading
Big Numbers in Downloads and Domain Names
Posted in Advertising, Domain Names, Keyword Ads, Marketing, Search Engines–Dan Kelly, Attorney You may have heard the news that iTunes has hit the 10 billion (with a “b”) mark in number of songs downloaded. Sales began in 2003. That’s an average pace of more than 1.4 billion downloads a year. Considering that a typical single song retails for $0.99 on iTunes (likely higher than… Continue Reading
The Long and Short of Name Development
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Keyword Ads, Marketing, Search Engines, Social Networking, Trademarksby Mark Prus of NameFlashSM Some of my name development clients are fans of long, keyword-rich names. Obviously the appeal of a search engine spotting your website is driving this approach. Some of my naming clients are fans of short names that can be easily shared on Twitter. Which approach is better? I will confess… Continue Reading
What a Crock, Pot That Is . . .
Posted in Branding, Genericide, Infringement, Keyword Ads, Law Suits, Marketing, Search Engines, TrademarksWe’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
Essential Spacing: Night & Day Commercial Impressions
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Keyword Ads, Marketing, Search Engines, Sight, TrademarksMillimeters apart on the label, miles apart in meaning. Yes, a few extra millimeters of blank space can make all the difference in the world for some brands. Especially when the brand name consists of two words, and the typical visual treatment has all letters appearing in identical size and style (all caps), and when compressing the words yields an unintended,… Continue Reading
Duets Blog Authors
Steve Baird
Just so you know, I'm all about brands and the law, both professionally and personally. I regularly annoy family and friends in retail stores by focusing on product labels—not to buy the product, but to read the fine print and ask, "Who owns these brands" and "Did they really register those marks?" More...
Brent Lorentz
Although I wish I could say my path to the law was the result of a lifelong dream or calling, it was more the result mere curiosity and an affinity for leather-bound books. More...
Tiffany Blofield
Although my initial career path was to be one of the Supremes (not the musically talented ones with platform shoes and sequins, but rather, the nine wearing sensible shoes and pressed black robes in DC), I will likely stay in Minnesota as I have never lived anywhere else. More...
Brad Walz
My law career started on the ice…as a defensive hockey player (we’re not talking professionally…and if I were, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into law). More...
Derek Allen
In hindsight, writing about creativity and the law may have always been in the cards for me. I began training for a career in litigation at an early age by finding ways to disagree with pretty much anyone about pretty much anything. In my longest-running “case,” I argued with my middle school math teacher, Mrs. Jabs, for the better part of four years over whether, even if I got the right answer, I had to show my work to get full credit. More...
Martha Engel
Although my interest in gadgetry and my aptitude for math eventually led me to become an engineer, my ad executive father and artistically gifted mother fostered an appreciation for the creative from a young age. More...
Anjali Shankar
When I was in elementary and middle school, I loved writing short stories. Creativity and imagination seem to come naturally to people when they are young. More...
Timothy Sitzmann
I have always considered myself to be a creative person. Full disclosure: I'm not claiming that I've created anything good, merely that I have created things that exist.More...