Today marks the end of the 2010 Minnesota State Fair.

Sad day, but Happy Labor Day!

It also marks an opportunity to talk a bit about the frequently encountered question of trademark priority, frozen trademark rights, the creation of common law trademark rights, and the frequently forgotten concurrent registration trademark tool, using my favorite frozen custard stand at the MN State Fair, as

In December, you may recall, I blogged about Boise State’s federal registration of the color blue as applied to athletic field turf, known to many as Smurf Turf. At the time, I wondered out loud whether Boise State’s success in the U.S. Trademark Office might lead others to follow along this trademark path?

Hat tip again to

Mark Image

To sports fans of this university, December has been a big month because their beloved team finished the 2009 regular football season undefeated (13-0) once again, winning yet another post-season BCS bowl game bid. Next month will be even bigger news if their WAC team happens to defeat TCU in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. To trademark types, however, the biggest news of all is what this university was able to accomplish last month at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

You might be surprised to learn (I was) that the above image is the drawing associated with the single color trademark ("the mark consists of the color blue used on the artificial turf in the stadium") that this university was able to federally register in connection with: "Entertainment services, namely, the presentation of intercollegiate sporting events and sports exhibitions rendered in a stadium, and through the media of radio and television broadcasts and the global communications network." Hat tip to Brad Frazer of the Hawley Troxell firm, in Boise, Idaho.

Quick question, how does one render entertainment services in connection with a single-color trademark through the "media of radio broadcasts"? Does oral reference to the blue turf on the radio constitute use of the mark in commerce?

In any event, the identity of the university in question, is revealed below the jump, and it is, of course:Continue Reading Surface Level Branding Runs Deep on This Athletic Field