Marketing types and legal types who review labels, be well advised to choose words used carefully.

In other words, if you believe you own rights in Pretzel Crisps as a trademark, it’s not wise to use the number of so-called “Crisps” as the serving size, especially with no trademark notice symbol.

Frito-Lay’s successful 2014

First things first: Happy 4th of July, Dear Readers!

4thJulyFlagThat was a pretty honest, simple, genuine, transparent, straightforward, to the point, not belaboring at all, under any circumstances, my most sincere wishes to our dear readers, agree?

Now contrast the original well wishes with the elaborate description of them, the latter being anything but short

Jawbone-UpI’ve been wearing one of these little guys on my wrist for almost a year now. Love it. The personal awareness it raises for me in the areas of sleep, diet, and activity, has been profound.

Can’t tell you how many times folks have asked, “Is that one of those fit bits?” “Nope,” I sometimes

Passing by a roadside billboard recently (below is a miniature version I found in the Minneapolis skyway system), my first thought was, wow, McDonald’s is getting into the juicy lucy business:

Until more focus revealed that State Farm Insurance is the one behind the ad. Look familiar?

No doubt burgers and car insurance are

Remember how important it is to stay on the right side of the suggestive/descriptive line when it comes to making proper use of a brand name?

We have cautioned about the danger of “taking a suggestive name, mark, or tag-line, and using it descriptively in a sentence on labels, packaging, ad copy, or the Internet,”

With the upcoming 2012 presidential election, this is the time during our American political cycle where spinning is almost a sport — at least an expected activity. Puns intended, as you’ll see.

Over the last several years, I’ve heard my wife speak about “spinning classes” at a local health club (mind you, not at 

Do you suppose the author of this article knows that Ball Park is a federally-registered brand name and trademark, not an unprotectable generic term synonymous with hot dogs and frankfurters? The growing prevalence of lower-case brand styles and visual identity has complicated the answer to this question a bit, I suspect. Nevertheless, we should probably