For the past couple years, General Mills has battled to register a yellow color mark in connection with its Cheerios® breakfast cereal. More specifically, back in 2015, General Mills applied to register (Serial No. 86757390) the mark shown below, described as “the color yellow appearing as the predominant uniform background color on product packaging
Nominative Fair Use, as Illustrated by Colorful Balls
— Jessica Gutierrez Alm, Attorney
If you watch any amount of T.V. or happened to catch either of the AFC or NFC Championship games last weekend, you’ve probably seen one of the recent cell phone carrier ball commercials.
Initially, Verizon created this commercial, wherein a series of colorful balls rolling down a ramp are used
Microsoft’s Brand Refresh Cements Color Trend?
–Dan Kelly, Attorney
Over the years, we have documented a number of branding trends, from blue ovals, to the 3D trend, to our AlphaWatch. With its recently announced new logo, Microsoft appears to be bucking all trends. Without further ado, here it is:
Did you catch that? I know. Blink and you
Successful Evolution of an Unlicensed Business Model?
Brand owners and managers may wonder, is a trademark license required when another’s unregistered color scheme is used? Depending on the facts, it may very well be.
About four years ago brand owners scored a major victory in LSU v. Smack Apparel, when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to the existence and
Seeing Orange in the Construction Space
Little did I know when I was writing What’s in an Orange-Colored Home Improvement Business Name? — that two days later, orange-color marks would be asserted in a trademark infringement lawsuit filed in Minnesota federal district court over competing building construction services: Cedar Valley Exteriors, Inc. v. JNS Builders LLC. A copy of the
Changing Your Brand Color: No More Golden Arches?
–Susan Perera, Attorney
Last year I had a running discussion on color trademarks. I blogged about the issues surrounding the protection of a color as a non-traditional trademark, the impact of industries clustering around a particular color, and the concern that functionality may impede protection of a color trademark. Need a refresher? Check here,
Louboutin in Danger of Losing the Red-Soled Trademark
–Catlan McCurdy, Attorney
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In April of this year, shoe designer, Christian Louboutin, turned heads in the fashion and trademark crowds when the brand sued Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) for infringing Louboutin’s signature look: red-soled shoes. Duets covered it here. Both interested lawyers and fashion aficionados have been awaiting some form of decision, and our
Industry Color Clusters
–Susan Perera, Attorney
I recently read Nora Reed’s blog post, Locate your Brand on the Color Spectrum, on Logoblog. Nora identified a trend, which you may have noticed from time to time, that some industries tend to congregate in a specific color scheme.
For example, fast food logos tend to be in the red/yellow
That Purple Cereal
–Susan Perera, Attorney
As you likely know, many of the Duets Blog bloggers were involved in a full day trademark CLE last week. One of the sessions focused on the issues facing private label brands and the line between identifying your competitor by using similar packaging and infringing on their trademark or trade dress.
Along
The Great Chocolate War
—Jason Voiovich, author of the “State of the Brand” & Vice-President of Marketing for AbleNet, Inc.
It sounds like something I’d get wrong in a game of "Trivial Pursuit".
Name the belated military attempt of King William I to restore his position as monarch over the Belgians. I might have guessed the delicious-sounding