A recent road trip in Texas flagged this roadside sign, depicting a likely famous non-verbal logo, standing all alone: So, I dug up this little gem from our archives to refresh my memory on what I had said about it before: Which Non-Verbal Logo Doesn’t Belong? Admittedly, I was skeptical about Starbucks’ move to extract the siren… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Nike
Supreme Court Upholds Nike’s Promise to “Break the Wrist, and Walk Away”
Posted in Articles, Infringement, Law Suits, TrademarksNot every day does the United States Supreme Court weigh in on a topic impacting the trademark world, but it did so yesterday in Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc., a case illustrating what can happen when a trademark plaintiff wants to pull the plug and end the lawsuit it started in a walkaway (or as martial arts instructor… Continue Reading
Nike and Adidas on the Same Team?
Posted in Branding, Dilution, Famous Marks, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, TrademarksKnowing how Adidas (or should I say, adidas) jealously guards its three stripe design on shoes, and is notorious for protecting against not only three, but two and four stripe buffers as well, my eyes were drawn to this display of Nike Shox sport shoes at our local Finish Line retail store. While I suppose different… Continue Reading
Showing What’s in a Slogan?
Posted in Articles, Branding, False Advertising, Marketing, TrademarksSeth Godin seems to suggest the most important element of a slogan is living up to the inherent promise in it — the underlying story of the brand. I suppose that is hard to dispute; a catchy set of words that isn’t true to the brand doesn’t help, instead the noticeable disconnect probably hurts the brand. At the same… Continue Reading
How Well Do You Know Your Logos?
Posted in Branding, Trademarks–Catlan McCurdy, Attorney Bored one evening in college and watching re-runs of Seinfeld, a friend and I devised what we thought to be a pretty ingenious game. Be the first to correctly guess the brand behind the commercial and ye shall be declared the winner. Loser drinks. Before you start judging, just remember that as freshman we… Continue Reading
Open Wide and Say Ahh: Probing Brand Name & Trademark Pronunciation
Posted in Advertising, Articles, Branding, Marketing, TrademarksThe current series of advertising billboards from Allianz – an international financial services company, with its parent company headquartered in Munich, Germany – are really wonderful, and their creativity inspired this post about brand name pronunciation. Here is one billboard example I recently captured in Minneapolis with my iPad, to the left. How we pronounce words, names, places, and brand names… Continue Reading
Will the Twitter Bird Fly Alone Some Day?
Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, Social Networking, TrademarksLast month William Lozito, over at Name Wire: The Product Naming Blog, reported on Twitter’s new bird logo, and the multitude of don’ts associated with the launch of it. Having so many don’ts seems a bit contrary to Twitter’s prior rather lax or laissez-faire approach to trademark enforcement,… Continue Reading
Louboutin Red-Sole & Surrounding Contrast: An Implied Trademark Limitation
Posted in Articles, Branding, Fair Use, Infringement, International, Law Suits, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, TrademarksThe Louboutin lacquered red sole trademark is the subject of great debate in the trademark world, fashion industry, popular news media, and among law school academics and friends of the court. I’m just not seeing it. I really don’t see a viable trademark claim here for Louboutin. Not for the reasons found by the district court — I… Continue Reading
Which Non-Verbal Logo Doesn’t Belong?
Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Food, Marketing, TrademarksWelcome to another addition of Non-Verbal Logos that truly stand alone (without words). Other additions here and here. The latter was generously republished by David Airey. So, as we’ve said before, pictures can say a thousand words, but which logo doesn’t belong here: My answer below the jump.
To Sponsor or Ambush? Part II – The Ambushers
Posted in Mixed Bag of Nuts–Susan Perera, Attorney As promised, here are the ambush ads in direct competition with the FIFA sponsors shown yesterday. Are these companies deceptively benefiting from these ads? Please share your thoughts. Pepsi: Nike: Carlsberg:
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
In Praise of Folly: Rantings of a Right Brain Activist
Posted in Guest Bloggers—Jack Cuffari, Jack Cuffari Consulting and Brand Smacks Blog I know – a catchy title for a blog, eh? It’s actually the title of a treatise by Erasmus of Rotterdam, and no, he wasn’t the Wharton grad behind the recent boom in Netherlands-based financing. Sounds like it can’t possibly have anything to do with business, after all… Continue Reading
A Frisbee By Any Other Name?
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Famous Marks, Genericide, Goodwill, Marketing, Trademarks–Dan Kelly, Attorney In reading news of the passing of Fred Morrison, inventor of the Frisbee Normal 0 0 1 2 1 1 2 11.1287 0 0 0 ®, I was surprised to learn that the Frisbee wasn’t always called “Frisbee.” Morrison sold his rights to Wham-O in 1957 (“sold” being used loosely — he… Continue Reading
The Roar of Tiger Woods in Branding
Posted in Advertising, Agreements, Branding, Contracts, Guest Bloggers, MarketingThe impact of the Tiger Woods scandal in branding can be viewed from two different perspectives. The first perspective comes from the point of view of the companies that paid Woods to endorse their products. The second perspective is how the personal brand of Tiger Woods will be impacted as the smoke clears from this… Continue Reading
G Doesn’t Grasp Successful Marketing
Posted in AlphaWatch, Branding, Food, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Product Packaging, TrademarksIn 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
Don’t Expect This to Have Tiger by the Tail…
Posted in Advertising, Agreements, Branding, Contracts, Guest Bloggers, MarketingTiger Woods’ scandal proves once again that celebrity gossip mongering is a blood sport. The bigger the celebrity, the more the blood will flow. In Tiger’s case, he can open up a blood bank. Though it’s unlikely to reach the insanity that was unleashed when Michael Jackson died last summer, it will take the… Continue Reading
Don’t Underestimate the Power of a Logo and Other Distinguishable Matter
Posted in Almost AdviceYesterday, Under Consideration’s Brand New Blog discussed the redesign of the Nickelodeon trademark. Nickelodeon has decided to drop the well known splat design that encapsulated the NICKELODEON term. As reported by Under Consideration, Nickelodeon’s “splat” has existed in one form or another for over 15 years. Although the orange “splat” has evolved over the years, it was a… Continue Reading
Pros and Cons of Stand-Alone Non-Verbal Logos and Other Trademark Styles: A Legal Perspective
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Infringement, Marketing, TrademarksAs promised earlier this week, in my post entitled "Without Words, But Not Speechless: More On Non-Verbal Logos That Can Stand Alone," here is my effort to identify, from a legal perspective, some of the pros and cons of non-verbal logos and other trademark styles. But, before addressing the legal implications, it is worth noting that a number of our insightful readers and commenters already… Continue Reading
Virtual Opportunity
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Product PackagingWhile salivating over the most recent installment to the Tiger Woods Video Game Franchise, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, my mind began to wander towards product placement. I suppose it is a natural extension that a game which allows players to play “real” courses would logically allow players to purchase “real” apparel and equipment with tournament… Continue Reading
Van Halen Sues Nike
Posted in Copyrights, InfringementLast month, Eddie Van Halen’s company, ELVH, Inc., filed a lawsuit against Nike for copyright infringement. The complaint alleges the above-depicted model of Nike’s Dunk Low shoes infringe his copyright in the red, white and black striped Frankenstein guitar design. The lawsuit is seeking not only profits from Nike’s sale of the shoes and damages, but also the… Continue Reading
Just Verb It? A Legal Perspective on Using Brands As Verbs: Part I
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, TrademarksThere is a growing interest and, quite frankly, a dogged persistence among branding professionals to select brand names that have the ability and potential to be "verbed." This makes trademark attorney types nervous and those of the "Dr. No" variety actually become unglued. So, why the emphasis or fascination with verbs anyway? The answer apparently can be found in the definition of a… Continue Reading
Driving Your Internet Traffic: the Hazards of Direct Navigation
Posted in Domain Names–Dan Kelly, Attorney How did you get here? Seriously, how did you navigate to this web page? Is DuetsBlog.com in your bookmarks? (Do you have an Internet “loop”?) Perhaps you navigated directly by going to the little box at the top of the page and typing in “www.duetsblog.com.” If you did this last step, and… Continue Reading
Non-Verbal Logos That Can Stand Alone, And One That Can’t
Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Marketing, Sight, TrademarksEven young children understand the power of brands and trademark symbols before they can read. Years ago, when my children were at the ripe young age of wondering (and maybe caring) what my job was, I’d try to explain the kinds of things a trademark attorney might do. Of course, I didn’t tell them some view trademark types as "the… 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...