Earlier this year, we contemplated a suitable, accurate, and efficient generic name for the service category created by the highly-disruptive Uber brand: App-Based Ride Service.
A visit to Chicago this past weekend, left me thinking that Ride-Share Service or Ride Sharing are suitable alternatives, that appear to be gaining some traction, as seen
It’s that time of year, for lawyers anyway, to make sure they are up to date on their continuing legal education hours, which includes the need for the all important 2.0 ethics credit hours.
For our local readers who happen to be lawyers in need of such credits, the Ramsey County Bar Association has an
When Aaron Keller of Capsule deeply cares about an issue (in a deeply fried kind of way), it’s hard not to stand up, pay attention, and follow instructions, especially when his picture of golden little nuggetized cheese curds are involved and the Minnesota State Fair is at stake.
As you might have discerned
There are at least two kinds of buzz converging at the moment (perhaps three), especially for fashion forward and fit oriented trademark types here in Minneapolis.
On the one hand, with the holidays upon us it’s hard to avoid the barrage of billboard ads in the Minneapolis skyway promoting the first brick and mortar entry
By way of follow-up to Tim’s and David’s recent discussions about Rio2016 and related U.S. Olympic Committee trademark enforcement issues, it appears that a local Minnesota carpet cleaning business called Zerorez, is poised to press the issue of the USOC’s overreaching trademark policies by asking the federal district court in Minnesota to confirm it
-Martha Engel, Attorney
My home state of Minnesota prides itself primarily on three things: our ability to withstand our winters, our 10,000 lakes, and our dearly beloved Prince. While we take a beating when it comes to our sports teams, all of his purple life we had Prince. Just like you might do for your
– Draeke Weseman, Weseman Law Office, PLLC
Naming is a tricky business with important marketing and trademark considerations. Recently, two Minnesota law schools, William Mitchell College of Law and Hamline Law School, took up this daunting task when they decided to merge into Mitchell|Hamline.
On February 13, 2015, William Mitchell Dean Eric Janus
Minnesota is known as the North Star State – L’Étoile du Nord. The state of hipsters, unique dining experiences, bitter cold winters, gorgeous summer nights, and fantastic craft brewers also has an impressive craft cocktail scene. One of its stars has been Johnny Michaels, formerly barman at La Belle Vie, a restaurant that is consistently
– Draeke Weseman, Weseman Law Office, PLLC
A benefit corporation is the term used when a company is created under corporate law and should not be confused with a “B Corp,” which refers to a company that is certified by B Lab to meet specific standards for social and environmental performance.
Why Consider a Benefit Corporation? Doug Bend and Alex King, Forbes.com (May 30, 2014)
Starting on January 1, 2015, Minnesota businesses will have the option to incorporate in Minnesota as benefit corporations, a new type of for-profit entity that commits to pursue social goals. More than half of the states in the United States have enacted some type of legislation allowing for benefit corporations (Maryland was the first in 2010).
Benefit corporations arose in response to the growing demand for socially conscious businesses. The group largely responsible for the benefit corporation movement is B Lab, a 501(c)(3) non-profit formed in 2007 that evaluates and certifies businesses according to a stakeholder and environmental impact scorecard, while also acting as a public promoter and supporter of such businesses.
B Lab (through B Lab IP, LLC) owns several trademark registrations or pending applications for benefit corporation related marks, including the following:
• Brought To You By the Community of Certified B Corporations
On its website, B Lab describes its role as follows: “B Corps are certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Today there is a growing community of over 1,000 Certified B Corps . . . .”
Despite this clear statement about B Corps and the certification provided by B Lab, no trademark applications or registrations exist for the truncated marks “B Corp” or “B Corps,” or for the certification mark “Certified B Corps.” Instead, the marks registered by B Lab are service marks applied to “association services,” business “testing, analysis, and evaluation,” and “quality assurance” services.
This is surprising because both B Lab and the companies adopting the B Corp certification routinely use variations on the B Lab marks while mentioning certification. For example, below is a screenshot from the B Lab home page, followed by a screenshot from Patagonia’s website, both using the truncated B Corp mark and both prominently using the unregistered “Certified B Corporation” mark:
Continue Reading Would Benefit Corporations Benefit from Some Trademark Clarity?
On Tuesday of this week, we discussed the trademark infringement case filed by Lulu’s Market & Deli against Lulu’s Public House (depicted above), here is a link to a pdf of the Complaint.
As you will recall, we expressed a healthy dose of skepticism about the claims being asserted by Lulu’s Market & Deli,