-Ward C. Schendel, Business Coach, KnowledgeSphere Group of AdviCoach
It’s December. Time to think about New Year’s Resolutions. The Book of Odds¹ tells us the odds an adult will make a New Year’s Resolution are 1 in 2.56. And it says the likelihood we will keep a New Year’s Resolution for more than one week
Marketing types, it may well be obvious to some, but it is always important to consider the source of inspiration for the branding and marketing of the products and services you promote.
At least for those who follow country singer Toby Keith, with a Costco retail end-cap display like this, it’s hard not to assume
–Dan Kelly, Attorney
Most have probably heard today’s news that Hostess Brands is going out of business. This is sad news on many fronts, the most significant of which is the loss of livelihood for some 18,000 individuals.
Hostess Brands owns a number of well-known, if not famous, trademarks and brands, including TWINKIES for cakes,
–Dan Kelly, Attorney
Meet my trusty GE Electronic Digital FM/AM Clock Radio, Model No. 7-4624:
I don’t know if I can pinpoint it exactly, but this puppy has been with me for somewhere along the lines of twenty-eight years. It has been with me through junior high, high school, college, teaching, law school, lawyerdom, marriage,
Recently capturing this Accenture billboard in the Minneapolis airport, I couldn’t help but be struck by how far the Accenture brand has moved from its previously prized spokesperson and celebrity Tiger Woods, apparently just in time for Tiger’s recent rebound on the golf course — I’ll refrain from calling it a comeback. I’m not
–Dan Kelly, Attorney
There has been at least one interesting trademark-related story in the wake of the Rush Limbaugh flap. Health insurance company Humana Inc. and its subsidiary Concentra Health Services, Inc. sued Preval Group, LLC for an injunction against Preval’s use of CONCENTRA in connection with a “memory pill.”
Humana raised the issue of
–Dan Kelly, Attorney
Last year, I posted a passage from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to put us in a right mood for Christmas Day. This year, I give you some images from Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory”:
Of the ingredients that go into our fruitcakes, whiskey is the most expensive, as well as the hardest
There was a time when a certain kind of small business owner — strapped for cash — with a meager promotional budget, easily could be tempted to adopt a “clever” name, as a “short-cut,” to “play off” a well-known, iconic brand, but in the end, he or she probably was convinced by counsel that doing
The words we choose to use in commercial signage, advertising, and marketing materials mean something. That’s why we use them, to communicate a fact, an opinion, or perhaps some other message.
The use of certain words, can carry implied meanings too, some intended, and perhaps some unintended.
For example, yesterday Seth Godin wrote this about
About a week ago another interesting federal intellectual property case was filed in the District of Minnesota: Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. v. Puffin Software et al.
Although the four count complaint includes a federal unfair competition claim, a Minnesota deceptive trade practices claim, and a common law unjust enrichment claim, the case really appears to be centered around the copyright