It should be no surprise that the famous Coca-Cola brand name is federally-registered. One of the many significant benefits of federal registration is the USPTO’s obligation to refuse registration of third party marks that are likely to confuse — most importantly, without the prompting or involvement of the prior trademark registrant.
No doubt Coca-Cola will
OfficeMax has been sporting its friendly and colorful rubber band ball brand signal on billboard advertising and delivery trucks for some time, but yesterday is the first time I’ve noticed prominent static use of the bouncy rubber band ball as a non-verbal logo on storefront signage positioned next to the OfficeMax brand name (like the
I don’t really have anything to say, since I haven’t seen ABC’s Duets television show, and NBC’s The Voice already won my household over, except to say: At least Duets is a protected and federally-registered name and mark for what we
NeoCon is North America’s largest design exposition and conference where thousands of innovative products and resources are showcased for corporate, hospitality, healthcare, retail, government, institutional and residential interiors from more than 700 showrooms and exhibitors. NeoCon 2012 begins next Monday at The Merchandise Mart in Chicago.
Thanks to District Court Judge Joan Ericksen of the
You probably have gathered by now that I like thinking and writing about non-traditional trademarks.
For some time, mostly when I’m in the car and I happen to notice them, I have been wondering about the shapes of various retail signs and how many of their owners may have sought to federally register them as non-traditional trademarks
Can you name the owner of this exclamation mark branding signal?
You may be surprised to learn it is federally-registered in the U.S. as a stand-alone non-verbal trademark.
You may be even more surprised to learn, it was federally-registered without a showing of secondary meaning or acquired distinctiveness, because it was viewed as an inherently distinctive non-verbal trademark.
This is no ordinary exclamation mark, however, the trademark owner claims it in a 3D appearance, does that help?
Here’s another clue: In Latin American countries, the brand name associated with this particular punctuation mark is Pepitos!
Last clue: Would it help to know the goods associated with this registered trademark are chocolate chip cookies?
Answer below the jump.Continue Reading Branding Exclamations!
Under Consideration’s Brand New Blog has on two recent occasions commented about the trend in using white as the color for product packaging of consumable goods. Wal-Mart was the first to use this color packaging for its private label brand and the European community appears to be following suit. Using a white background has its marketing
Kimberly-Clark® is no stranger to securing federal registrations for its various non-traditional trademarks. No doubt, these unconventional trademark assets are of great commercial value and an important part of K-C’s evolving business strategy and intellectual property portfolio.
My previous post about the oval-shaped facial tissue container K-C was able to federally register in November 2007 is linked here. That post also discussed their current non-traditional trademark application covering a “textured alternating dot pattern appearing on the surface of the carton of disposable paper hand-towels.” By way of update, it was initially refused registration in April, but the application remains pending, as can be seen here, with no response due until October 2009.
Kimberly-Clark® has non-traditional, single color trademarks too:
In fact, I recently came across a pair of their federal trademark registrations for “the color purple,” one obtained in 2002 and the other in 2006. The differences in the description of goods between these two “color purple” registrations help make a point that is quite important to both marketing and trademark types, namely, the importance of keeping registered trademark scope current and consistent with the underlying and evolving business scope.Continue Reading Kimberly-Clark and The Color Purple: Keeping Trademark Scope Current and Consistent with Business Scope
The question of whether federal trademark registration should be pursued is a frequent question of those in the marketing world, especially during difficult economic times. I wrote a short piece for Create Magazine a couple of years ago, and you can read it, here. As you will see, there are many benefits to registration