I’ll have to say, I really enjoyed Aaron Keller’s guest post from yesterday. In addition to the valuable insights he provided, it got me thinking about some perhaps unrelated, but parallel topics of likely interest to legal and marketing types. Aaron wrote about the importance of a brand being honest with itself and others. He expressed the need… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Trademark Notice Symbol
What Serious Trademark Owners Do
Posted in TrademarksThere are many things that serious trademark owners do throughout the lifecycle of a trademark to mitigate risk, protect the valuable goodwill in their underlying brand, and preserve their valuable investment in this important intellectual property asset. Here is a fairly extensive, but certainly not exhaustive, and often forgotten, list of those things: Clear new marks before using them… Continue Reading
Snickers Cross-Section Trademark Notice
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Food, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Sight, TrademarksYou may recall about a year ago I did a post entitled "Delicious Trademarks: Candy Bar Cross-Section Trademarks?" I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago when I snapped this photo, capturing what I believe to be the same point of sale display that inspired my original post: A couple of months ago I saw in a convenience store a large Snickers… Continue Reading
IP Grammar . . . and Those Who Cringe About It
Posted in Mixed Bag of NutsLast September, in my blog post entitled "What Does Trademarked Mean to You?," I wrote: More than a few trademark types cringe when their clients or others say things like "let’s trademark it," "they didn’t trademark their logo," or "we don’t want to trademark this name," and, when they ask questions like "is it trademarked?"… Continue Reading
More Godin on Trademark? The Sequel
Posted in Mixed Bag of NutsLast week we explored how at least some of Seth Godin’s trademark advice is a bit dated. This week, let’s take a close and careful look at his advice concerning trademark registration: Some lawyers will get all excited and encourage (demand!) that you register your trademark. This involves paying a bunch of money, filing a bunch… Continue Reading
Kleenex® Not Wanting to Blow It: Some Steps to Avoid Trademark Genericide
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, TrademarksThis sponsored banner ad is currently appearing in AdAge’s Daily News on-line newsletter: How many boxes of tissue do you suppose this ad is responsible for selling? If the answer is none, that is probably fine with Kimberly-Clark since the return on investment for this ad is measured quite differently, I’m sure, given how the frequently misused Kleenex®… Continue Reading
What Does “Trademarked” Mean to You?
Posted in Marketing, TrademarksMore than a few trademark types cringe when their clients or others say things like "let’s trademark it," "they didn’t trademark their logo," or "we don’t want to trademark this name," and, when they ask questions like "is it trademarked?" or "is that trademarked software?" or "did we ever trademark our logo?" or "should we… Continue Reading









