Brand New Blog recently reported on the unfortunate, but unsurprising piercing of Lance Armstrong’s name from the logo and visual identity of the Livestrong Foundation: It is no longer about the man, but the mission — still a laudable one: For more on the fall of Lance Armstrong and his once unstoppable personal brand, see Brent’s… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Logos
March Madness: Who Are Your Top (Logo) Seeds?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Marketing, TrademarksMaria Cohn and Morgen Bromell of the website Complex recently published a list of the 50 Most Iconic Brand Logos of All Time. While lists like these are released somewhat frequently, this one has a major distinguishing feature: it is the first to be published since I joined the DuetsBlog. Make a mental list of what you… Continue Reading
University of California Flushes New Logo
Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Social Networking, TrademarksSo, last Friday we covered this story: Critics Flush New University of California Logo. Now, we can report that the next morning, the Los Angeles Times wrote this story: Maligned UC Logo Shelved; “Time to Move On,” Officials Say. Putting aside any possible questions about cause and effect, is there a difference between flushing a… Continue Reading
Mayo Clinic Logo loses lower case visual identity
Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Marketing, TrademarksWe’ve already written a bit here about the trend toward lower-case branding and visual identity: Although I’d like to invite and actually welcome the far more professional wisdom of our trusted visual identity brethren and other learned branding and marketing types, until then, I’m guessing this trend has at least something to do with wanting to position a… Continue Reading
When a Brand’s Visual Identity Has Serious Trademark Implications
Posted in Branding, Sight, TrademarksThe strategic use of color can make all the difference in the world — particularly the trademark world – when creating the visual identity for a brand, as color can be a very helpful legal tool in communicating the brand’s underlying meaning. And the meaning of a brand and its trademark, or a portion of its trademark, can have many legal… Continue Reading
Incongruity in Advertising?
Posted in AdvertisingMy post from a couple of days ago, commenting on Chick-fil-A’s EAT MOR CHIKIN slogan and the associated Cow Campaign and advertisements, neglected to discuss an issue – one so important — that I’m compelled to raise it now, as it appears to have disturbed my otherwise healthy cognitive system. It has disturbed me as much as one of my amphibian-loving sons was… Continue Reading
Brands That Cut Corners, Literally . . .
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Food, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, TrademarksWendy’s is a brand that claims to not cut corners: "For Wendy’s, square isn’t so much a shape as a promise to not cut corners." As a trademark type, the focus on the square shape and surrounding symbolism leaves me wondering whether Wendy’s is cleverly laying the groundwork for claiming non-traditional trademark rights in the… Continue Reading
A Logo With a Double Meaning?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Sight, TrademarksIt’s hard to beat a logo that creates some double meaning, even one promoting a live performance of Cher in Sin City: Do you suppose this visual provides an intentional subliminal message to see her?
Gap, Tropicana, The Wall Street Journal, and the 1968 Tet Offensive
Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Product Packagingby James Mahoney, Creative director/writer at Razor’s Edge Communications What does a 42-year-old military offensive have to do with branding and social media? Quite a bit, as it happens. Consider four seemingly unrelated situations: First, clothing purveyor Gap experienced an alleged misadventure recently when it unveiled a "new logo" on its website, only to reinstate… Continue Reading
Trademarked Logos Appear to Have No Protection on Twitter
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Trademarks—Barry Wise, Co-founder of KnowEm.com Recently Gap rolled out a new logo (at least on their website – no word yet as to whether the same logo will be used in stores), and already a twitter account impersonating the logo itself is out there – @GapLogo. This is obviously not an official company account, but simply… Continue Reading
Apple Tee’s Off its New Social Networking With Ping
Posted in Advertising–Susan Perera, Attorney Well, it appears that yesterday’s guest blogger, Andrew Miller, and I are on the same wavelength as I also prepared some thoughts on the new iTunes Ping social networking platform. I guess such is the case in the world of social media where current events can be discussed ad nauseam in a matter… Continue Reading
Logo-less: When Does it Make Sense to Go Without?
Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Marketing, TrademarksYesterday, we asked about when it might make sense to go brand-less, and whether doing so can be an effective marketing strategy long term. Today, I’m wondering, what and where would McDonalds be without the Golden Arches? Nike without the Swoosh? Shell Oil without the, well, Shell? Laura Savard and Mark Gallagher of BlackCoffee stirred up an interesting conversation on… Continue Reading
Bland new brand or brand new bland? Is this Seattle’s Best?
Posted in Branding, Food, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Trademarks—Randall Hull, The Br@nd Ranch® Mid-May the fine folks at Starbucks headquarters in The Emerald City – no, not the one Dorothy visited, the one that gave us grunge and baristas – set the caffeine scene atwitter with the "new" Seattle’s Best Coffee logo. To herald the launch, a mock commando operation was staged and… Continue Reading
I Want My MTV, Hold the Music
Posted in Trademarks–Sharon Armstrong, Attorney A few months ago, my colleague Karen Brennan blogged about the Sci-Fi Channel’s name change to SyFy and removal of its Saturn logo. As Karen explained, part of the reason Sci-Fi/SyFy company heads wanted to change the name was to update the brand to appeal to a wider audience. Now MTV is “changing”… Continue Reading
Of (USC) Trojans and (USC) Gamecocks
Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Trademarks–Sharon Armstrong, Attorney A few weeks ago, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in The University of South Carolina v. the University of Southern California in South Carolina’s appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”). The Federal Circuit affirmed the TTAB’s finding that consumers are likely to be confused by… Continue Reading
Is Wal-Mart Giving Away Free $1,000 Gift Cards?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Fair Use, Infringement, Marketing, TrademarksSame drill as yesterday. Another email spam scam? More trademark fair use abuse? Is it just me, or is the branded email spam coming out of the virtual woodwork, or what? It appears that spam email – complete with fully branded solicitations — is becoming more and more aggressive, both from legal and technology perspectives. We… Continue Reading
Free Dell XPS Laptop Spam Scam?
Posted in Advertising, Fair Use, Marketing, TrademarksWhat if you were told that if you agreed to "test" a Dell XPS laptop you could keep it, for free? Would you expect the offer to be from Dell Computer? After all, who else but the manufacturer would care to give a computer away for simply having you test it? Would you at least expect… Continue Reading
More On The Fordless Blue Oval
Posted in Branding, Dilution, Famous Marks, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, TrademarksWhat do you think, is Overstock.com selling bling with the Fordless blue oval logo? As you may recall from my post back in September, Ford Motor Company is attempting to register the below shown non-verbal logo as a trademark for a variety of goods in Int’l Class 12: And, as you may recall from Dan’s I See Blue Ovals post… Continue Reading
You See Blue Ovals, I See 3D Spheres
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Sight, TrademarksI must admit, I was quite intrigued by Dan Kelly’s Duets blog entry “I See Blue Ovals” (August 28, 2009). It got me thinking about some of the trends occurring in logo design today. My 20+ years in the world of branding has witnessed a few notable changes. Perhaps the most significant is the application of… Continue Reading
Simply a Miscellaneous Design?
Posted in Branding, Marketing, Sight, TrademarksIn case you’re wondering, this design is a federally-registered non-verbal trademark. The owner identified it as a "Miscellaneous Design," without further detail or description (since it predated the more rigorous rules on supplying the Trademark Office with an accurate and detailed description of the mark). The U.S. Trademark Office assigned to this design mark Design Code 24.15.25 ("other arrows") and in… Continue Reading
Striking The Pose of Differentiation?
Posted in Branding, Dilution, Famous Marks, Marketing, Sight, TrademarksAs you’ll see, I’m no equestrian (nor equine expert for that matter), but given the non-verbal logos shown above, are you able to tell what company operates a fleet of these semi tractor-trailers? Does the color of the horse help? Horse breed? The direction it is facing? How about its pose? Some possible considerations and the answer below the jump.
Blue Oval, But Look Mom, No Words!
Posted in Branding, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, TrademarksWhat does this image signify to you? For full credit, please answer the question before peeking back at Dan’s popular post called "I See Blue Ovals."
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure
Posted in Almost Advice, TrademarksThe importance of logos in branding has been discussed in detail. Although words are generally thought of as the most dominant portion of a trademark because they are spoken by consumers, the logos themselves convey equally powerful and important messages. Which is why this element in the overall branding strategy should be cleared by trademark counsel prior… 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...