Welcome to another edition of AlphaWatch (the next one in our queue), where we explore the reach of single-letter trademarks, this time focusing on the letter Q and the single-letter branding cues it might suggest to consumers:

Are you able to name the un-truncated version of this single-letter mark and brand?

My daughter could. The answer is below the jump.

Now, given Quizno’s federally-registered rights in the single-letter Q logo, what is the likely fate of this baby q logo, recently filed by an apparently unrelated third party, as an intent-to-use application, also covering restaurant services?

  Does your answer change knowing Quizno’s Q logo already coexists with these other Q marks on the Principal Register, all in connection with restaurant services?

   

 Stay tuned, we’ll let you know how the baby q application turns out once it is examined by the PTO.

So, what do you think a reasonable scope of rights is for Quizno’s Q logo? Are any of the above Q logos likely to be confused with one another? What if the respective brands operated in the same geographic market? Is word of mouth important in the restaurant biz, and if so, how might one be able to aurally distinguish each from the other to avoid likelihood of confusion?

For some selected previous AlphaWatch related posts see: