Over the last decade, we’ve covered Super Bowl topics, it’s that time of year again!
We’ve probed the NFL’s overzealous activities and asked hard fair use questions.
And, with Big Game LII in our backyard, we had a front row ambush marketing seat.
With digital marketing, that front row seat can be anywhere your
North Memorial is pressing up its commitment to using the Google mark on outdoor billboards:
I have the same questions from last month for its digital campaign in the Minneapolis skyway.
And one more: Will this increased visibility result in an emergency, calling for a Juris Doctor?
North Memorial Health must be spending significant advertising dollars at the moment, with a variety of ads appearing all over the Minneapolis skyway system, above is one current example.
In addition, there are a series of humorous and sarcastic TV ads that were designed to poke the bear of our broken health care system, congrats
Over the weekend, the Star Tribune continued the growing drum beat of understandable excitement for Super Bowl LII, as it steadily approaches U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
The article also plays the typical NFL-enabling drum beat of caution against local businesses that might see fit to fairly and truthfully reference the Super Bowl in
The grocery aisles are fertile grounds for my keyboard, as you know. And, while I’m generally far more interested in coffee grounds than tea leaves (unless we’re speaking of the iced variety or reading between the lines of court decisions), the above shown box of tea bags caught my eye.
What initially captured my
The well-known, if not famous, Harley-Davidson logo is on the left below, but what is on the right?
Might Harley-Davidson also be in the business of renting storage garage units for motorcycles among other outdoor toys? I doubt it.
It looks like Harley-Davidson is involved in the rental of motorcycles, but that’s all
Unable to resist a good trademark story, I snapped this photo in one of the countless gift shops along Hollywood Boulevard, as my family searched for various stars and did the "Walk of Fame," a week or so ago. What drew us into this particular shop was a striking wall full of shelves displaying what appeared to be rows upon rows of mini-Oscar gift statuettes.
Unlikely, however, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences "has carefully limited reproductions of the Oscar statuette . . . ." In fact, the Academy has a pretty controlled press-kit full of legal regulations, and the only trinkets that the Oscar trademark is federally registered for appears to be clothing, books and pamphlets; and the non-verbal two-dimensional depiction of the Oscar statuette is federally registered as a trademark for only clothing, pre-recorded videotapes, and books and pamphlets, no trophies or other gift items, it appears.
Indeed, upon closer inspection, the shop’s sign appropriately reads: "Small Trophy $8.99." It struck me that this is literally the sign of an effective trademark enforcement program. Left to their own devices, it wouldn’t be surprising to see shopkeeper’s signage reading "take home your very own Oscar style trophy," or "Oscar style trophies for sale," but the well-trained sign makes no such mentions and it does not utter the words "Oscar" or "Academy Awards," presumably because the Academy’s Oscar trademark police frequently patrol these parts. Or, perhaps when you’re positioned on Hollywood Boulevard, tourists get the picture, so to speak, without the use of another’s probably famous trademark.
What about when your gift or trophy shop is not on Hollywood Boulevard, but instead, somewhere along the Information Superhighway or beyond?Continue Reading The Sign of a Successful Trademark Enforcement Program
The Easter Bunny eats lettuce, right? OK, not a very substantive tie-in for today’s Easter Day post . . . .
Anyway, about five weeks ago the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois rendered a trademark decision in Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises,Inc. v. Leila Sophia AR, LLC, d/b/a Lettuce Mix, granting plaintiff Lettuce Entertain You
This unsolicited e-mail communication from the Caribbean Island of Nevis got trapped in our spam filter, but I thought I’d remove the link and bring it out under a short leash for some legal training and discussion:
Trademark fair use, you ask?Continue Reading Fair Use of the Google Name, Logo, and Distinctive Color Combination?
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