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Tag Archives: Coca-Cola

Happiness is a Federally-Registered Mark

By on Posted in Famous Marks, Food, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Trademarks, USPTO

It should be no surprise that the famous Coca-Cola brand name is federally-registered. One of the many significant benefits of federal registration is the USPTO’s obligation to refuse registration of third party marks that are likely to confuse — most importantly, without the prompting or involvement of the prior trademark registrant. No doubt Coca-Cola will… Continue Reading

The Most Famous Bottle Design, Forever?

By on Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Food, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Packaging, Sight, Trademarks

Coca-Cola settled on its famous contour bottle design almost 100 years ago, in 1916, after several years of trials with other far less distinctive shapes (at least under today’s standards): Federal trademark registration data confirms the first use date to be July 8, 1916. The description of the contour bottle design mark in 1960 was: “The… Continue Reading

Pepsi, No Coke: Branding Nonsense at Work?

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Food, Marketing

Irony is something I enjoy capturing, as you already know, especially when it comes to branding. Take this recent image from my favorite hot dog joint in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Yesterdog: Note the vintage Drink Coca-Cola signage on the wall, directly behind the modern soft drink fountain, delivering only Pepsi products, to my great disappointment. Now,… Continue Reading

Bits and Pieces of Brands = Trademarks

By on Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Food, Marketing, Product Packaging, Trademarks, Truncation, USPTO

  D + What = Diet Coke? Let’s file this brand truncation example under the AlphaWatch category, even though there is some other stuff going on here too. The rendition of the distinctive Diet Coke soft drink can to the left really popped for me, at the point of sale, positioned on a shelf behind the clear-glass door of… 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

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

Serving Lawsuits With Your Morning Orange Juice

By on Posted in Infringement, Law Suits

–Susan Perera, Attorney Do these containers seem similar to you? Confusingly similar? That is what Coca-Cola, owner of Simply Orange, is claiming.  In a recently filed trade dress and patent infringement suit Coca-Cola claims that its Simply Orange container is nonfunctional, contains a patented closure lid, and the new Trop50 packaging is likely to deceive and… Continue Reading

When Holes in Markets Can’t Be Filled

By on Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Product Packaging

 —David Mitchel, Vice President of Norton Mitchel Marketing Successful brands often find holes in markets that need to be filled. There are numerous examples to illustrate this point. Microsoft found a great niche in the computer software market and their success made Bill Gates one of the richest individuals on the planet. Apple’s iPod was… Continue Reading

The Towels On The Beach Go ‘Round And ‘Round

By on Posted in Law Suits

Do you see the trademark in this picture? While one might be tempted to immediately focus on the Coca-Cola bottle and text, the actual trademark (or former trademark) which is the subject of this post is the shape of the towel.That’s right. Up until a recent 7th Circuit decision in Jay Franco & Sons, Inc. v. Clemens… Continue Reading

Exposing Two-Face Brands

By on Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Goodwill, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Trademarks

I’m not talking about brands that say one thing and do another. I’m not talking about brands that don’t live up to their promise. I’m literally talking about brands with two faces. One face may be confident, complicated, technical, professional, and/or formal. Let’s call him, Stephen. The other face might be friendly, simple, approachable, engaging, and/or informal… Continue Reading

To Sponsor or Ambush?

By on Posted in Advertising, Infringement

–Susan Perera, Attorney The World Cup has come to a close. Have you fallen into football withdrawal? Well don’t despair, I thought we could enjoy it a bit longer with a discussion of ambush marketing and some of the advertising campaigns that came out of this year’s championship. Clearly, major sporting events are financed largely by sponsorships,… Continue Reading

GM’s Chevy Trademark Dodges Fatal Lyrics: “This’ll Be The Day That I Die”

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

My trademark antennas automatically rise when I hear about a brand owner announcing plans to trade in one brand for another, as GM recently and surprisingly did with the Chevy nickname (brand and trademark), in favor of the longer and more formal Chevrolet brand name (and trademark). Hat tip to Nils Montan of IPAlly, for spotting GM’s Chevy veering… Continue Reading

Trademark Initial Interest Confusion: It’s The Real Thing

By on Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Infringement, Keyword Ads, Marketing, Trademarks

A little while back I wrote about the Likelihood of Confusion test in Trademark Law and how it protects trademark owners against much more than simply likelihood of confusion as to source.   I also wrote about how Wolf Appliance was able to convince a federal judge in Wisconsin to grant a preliminary injunction barring Viking Range from selling a… Continue Reading

Pepsi Throwback: The Renewed Choice of a Generation

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

        In December, PepsiCo introduced the United States market to a new, special limited time offer. From December 28-February 22, the Pepsi brand would offer Pepsi Throwback. This version of Pepsi contains real sugar, just as Pepsi products did until the early 1980s. This is the second market trial of Pepsi Throwback, as it had originally… Continue Reading

Brand Signals: The Building Blocks of Brand Identity

By on Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Packaging, Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch, Trademarks

Brands communicate with the world through a series of message delivery systems such as broadcast advertising, web sites, company representatives and product interaction. These systems utilize brand signals to communicate. While these signals commonly take the form of brand names and logos, they can also extend into sight, sound, touch, taste, smell or even action… Continue Reading

G Doesn’t Grasp Successful Marketing

By on Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Food, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Product Packaging, Trademarks

In November, I wrote about how Gatorade’s 2009 re-branding as G has been a complete failure. G was an ill-conceived approach to slowing sales in 2007 and 2008. It damaged brand equity, confused consumers and didn’t reverse the trend of falling unit sales. In the final paragraph of my last blog, I noted that PepsiCo… Continue Reading

Gatorade-Powerade False Advertising Case Resolved, For Now

By on Posted in Advertising, Agreements, AlphaWatch, Branding, Dilution, Famous Marks, Food, Law Suits, Marketing, Truncation

       You may recall the Gatorade v. Powerade false advertising lawsuit filed by a Pepsico entity (Stokely-Van Camp, Inc.) against rival The Coca-Cola Company back in April, discussed here (with a copy of the complaint). You also may recall how G scored an F in the courtroom, back in August, losing a hotly contested motion for… Continue Reading