Santa brought me one of my favorite trademarked and patented products: a LEGO® set! Yes that is Mr. Firefighter dousing the flames on the LEGO® tree while holding a cup of coffee. The hero of my LEGOland! For a Lego geek like me, there was an intriguing story in the Wall Street Journal last week… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Christmas
Merry Christmas
Posted in Mixed Bag of Nuts, Squirrelly ThoughtsThis image is currently trending on Bing: Anyone know who it is? In addition to wishing everyone Happy Holidays during this wonderful holiday season, we’d also like to wish those who celebrate Christmas a very Merry Christmas too!
A Dickensian Portrait of Christmas Day
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
New Billboard Advertiser Needed?
Posted in Advertising, MarketingThe answer is, apparently not. This falls under the category of, some things aren’t what they seem to be, or maybe they are just that, so let me try to explain. Blog posts don’t always turn out the way you might think at the start, and this one is a perfect example of how they can… Continue Reading
The Freezman Cometh?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, TrademarksWorries about having a white Christmas in Minneapolis and elsewhere have been quiet this year. Thus far, we have spent far more than our typical time shoveling some especially heavy wet snow this holiday season, but don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I do have snow on my mind, however, because each time I think… Continue Reading
Black Friday: On Your Marks . . . Get Set . . . CLICK!
Posted in Domain Names–Dan Kelly, Attorney I have never participated in early morning Black Friday sales. For me, those hours each year are most often spent peacefully enjoying the last fruits of a tryptophan-induced slumber. It is not just a lack of interest, either. There is a bit of loathing mixed in. For instance, my goal for the… Continue Reading
To Do: Secure Domain Name for New Product
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Marketing, Trademarks–Dan Kelly, Attorney This reminder is a bit late for new Christmas-season consumer products, but it bears repeating year round, as companies contemplate new products: buy domain names associated with a new product before announcing the new product. This seems like an obvious thing to do, but I regularly read stories where companies fail to… 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...