– Mark Prus, Principal, NameFlash
Creating fictitious names for products is standard practice in many industries. Creating a brand that evokes a certain image or feeling is so commonplace that most of us don’t think twice about it.
Consider Genova Tonno. In the Italian language, Genova is the city of Genoa, and Tonno is tuna.
Question for the day, how common is the given name Elle? I’m really not sure, I don’t believe I’ve ever personally known anyone with that name, and Mongabay doesn’t even include Elle in its listing of girl’s first names, but it does rank Ella (210), Elena (412), Ellie (1198), Elly (2802), and Ellamae (3514)
-Wes Anderson, Attorney
No company’s branding strategy is studied more meticulously than Apple, Inc.’s — and of late, Apple has taken a turn for the descriptive with its various operating systems.
Every company wants its brands to be distinctive — and the arbitrary APPLE mark is among the most well-known. But its new operating system
Love the new bold look of the Mello Yello can, and it’s hard to miss the prominent abbreviation to MY, along with the trademark assertion: This is My World.
Actually, as we have written before, there are more than a few operating within the world of MY, and that’s not limited to our writing about
-Randall Hull, The Br@nd Ranch®
There is an old branding adage: A logo is no more a brand than a steering wheel is a car. Yes, both are important components, but they are not the thing itself.
So, when I heard Uber, the ride-hailing service, was “rebranding” earlier this year I thought they would
-Martha Engel, Attorney
Government approval of commercial speech has been a hot topic of discussion by trademark nerds here and elsewhere in light of recent decisions regarding the Redskins and The Slants marks. As those decisions proceed up through the appeal channels to the Supreme Court, attention has been drawn to whether or not a
The short answer is, when it’s not false or misleading about the product inside the package.
This past weekend, my daughter and I found ourselves in Costco, picking up some provisions, and this bag of non-provision somehow happened to land in our shopping cart:
Almost protesting, based on a prior experience with Hershy’s Brookside dark
This image was captured from my office window last Friday, just before I left town for Miami to speak (again) at FUSE (I’ll be back here later with my FUSE thoughts, but in the meantime):
Looking back, I guess it must have been an April Fool’s Day prank, simply intentionally stalled work
–Debbie Laskey, MBA
Recently, a news report was released announcing the launch of Mattel’s newest addition to the Barbie line : “Interim CEO Barbie.” From a marketing perspective, why would a company launch a professional businesswoman doll and add the word “Interim?”
Ruth Handler, creator of Barbie, said in an interview with The New
-Wes Anderson, Attorney
When it comes to a big company’s trademark filings, the publicly available and freely searchable Trademark Office database can provide great fodder for the media. But don’t believe everything you read: an intent-to-use trademark application is far from gospel.
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. stoked the flames of speculation with an application for