Question Mark Brands?

A couple of months ago I blogged about Branding Exclamations!

Before that I blogged about Increasingly Intense Ellipsis Branding . . . .

Now, it appears I must revisit the subject of punctuation mark branding given Cadbury Adams' new Mega Mystery Stride brand gum, prominently featuring a question mark logo on the packaging where the S logo normally appears.

The mystery apparently surrounds the presently undisclosed flavor of the gum. The unknown flavor appears to be part of Stride's claimed Ridiculously Long Lasting Gum, not to be confused, of course, with Wrigley's Curiously Strong mints and gum (Altoids).

Anyway, my daughter brought a pack of the ? gum home and said, "Daddy, you should blog about this," so now you know the inspiration for my curiously strong or ridiculously long attention to this subject.

I fully expected to find a pending trademark application filed by Cadbury Adams for the "?" symbol, given its ridiculously flavorful interest in single letter chewing gum brands. To my surprise, however, I found none, at least yet.

As you might have imagined, I did find some "?" trademarks of others, as shown below. Do you recognize any of them? Each "?" image is linked to the corresponding trademark record at the U.S. Trademark Office.

 Mark Image Mark Image Mark Image Mark Image Mark Image Mark Image   

Turns out, there is a ? trademark battle heating up too. Not in the world of confections, but rather in the world of fashion. Just days ago, Guess IP Holder L.P., owner of the famous Guess brand, filed a Trademark Opposition against one of the above Question Mark logos, guess which one?

It asserted ownership of these federally-registered trademarks:

 Mark Image  

But not any of these, for some reason:

Mark Image Mark Image

To find out, click here for a link to a copy of the Notice of Opposition.

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Lawsuits - Back in Fashion This Fall

Last week, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported that Coach filed a complaint in New York against Minneapolis-based Target Corporation, alleging infringement of two of its handbag designs.  Coach claims Target’s new designs are too similar to two of its bags, including the Ergo and Signature Patchwork bags:

 

Target is not alone.  Coach also filed a lawsuit against Brown Shoe Co., Inc., parent company of Naturalizer, in June, 2009, accusing the company of copying the Ergo Pleated bag. 

Lookalikes have long been an issue in the fashion world.   While counterfeits are illegal, the rules are much less clear in the world of lookalikes and can come down to just how similar a design is to an "original."  What is clear is that designers and manufacturers in the fashion world are becoming more and more aggressive in protecting their designs.  A few more recent examples include:

Gucci filed suit against Guess earlier this year for trademark infringement for use of the “g” logo on handbags. 

Alexander McQueen recently accused Steve Madden Ltd. of trade dress infringement over a designer bootie. 

Deckers Outdoor Corp. (Ugg) filed a lawsuit against in California against numerous defendants alleging infringement of its Classic Cardy boot. 

Finally, the tables have turned in one recent lawsuit.  Louis Vuitton, known for avidly protecting its designs, has recently become familiar with the other side of case.  New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. accused Louis Vuitton of trademark infringement, alleging Louis Vuitton copied one of its popular shoe designs.  

As noted on Stylelist, the New Balance sneaker (top) retails for around $75, while the Louis Vuitton sneaker will run you around $590 (bottom).