Last week I stopped at a local wine and beer store to pick up a bottle of wine to bring to a friend’s dinner party (but also couldn’t resist purchasing a 4-pack of Surly’s Bitter Brewer. I had never seen it before, but highly recommend it). As I walked back to my car I noticed
Emoticons as Trademarks
Last week, I blogged about a federally-registered emoticon trademark, one that I discovered at 30,000 feet, here. Emoticons as trademarks? Does the idea make you want to roll your eyes like Saturday Night Live’s Kristen Wiig as Aunt Linda? Brace yourself, they appear inclined to stay, for at least a while!
Two weeks ago I couldn’t have told you
Holiday Inn Puts Dimmer on Non-Traditional Lighting Trademarks
A couple of months ago there was quite a buzz about Holiday Inn’s projected $4 million annual savings by moving to a leaner and greener direction with their adoption of LED lighting on exterior signage.
As you may recall, back in June we blogged about Holiday Inn’s interesting effort to federally register a pair of non-traditional lighting trademarks, one employing
Holiday Inn Lights It Up With a Pair of Non-Traditional Trademarks
Notice anything special about this pair of photographs featuring two different Holiday Inn front entrances? OK, putting aside that the one on the right — with green lighting — seems to have attracted, at least, a few cars, whereas the “blue light special” on the left appears to stage a full house with virtually every room light on, but ironically it reveals an empty parking lot.
Well, these aren’t ordinary photographs, they are trademark specimens of use; Six Continents Hotels, owner of the Holiday Inn brand, claims that they depict a pair of non-traditional trademarks, having filed them with the U.S. Trademark Office in April 2009, and asserting that use of the “lighting” marks commenced back in January 2008. So, we aren’t talking about the new H logo previously blogged about here or the old Holiday Inn word mark — those are standard and traditional single-letter logo and word trademarks. In case you’re wondering, no sign of any red or yellow lights for Holiday Inn, at least, on the Trademark Office database.Continue Reading Holiday Inn Lights It Up With a Pair of Non-Traditional Trademarks