-Wes Anderson, Attorney
Exult, lovers of autumn and decorative gourds – the air is crisp and the leaves are changing. And, in the treasured annual tradition, this week marked the release of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte – or PSL® as they may prefer to call it.
In the spirit of the season, I sought to
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
-Martha Engel, Attorney
Today’s offices treat acronyms like linguistic yoga (TOTALLY).
ICYMI, they’re popular also in texts, tweets, and other “thumb-talking” activities. LOL. SMH.
Legislators are having fun with them lately too, for example the Personal Rights in Names Can Endure Act (PRINCE Act), the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to
Little did I know that my temporary holiday-season addiction to the QuizUp Logos game would giddyup another blog post regarding non-verbal logo similarity.
The pair of logos above identify, distinguish, and indicate the source of two famous luxury brands, can you name them correctly? Fashionista noted the similarity some time ago, here.
Despite the
New stuff that spreads really fast never ceases to amaze me. Remember the viral music video from Norway earlier this year? The What Does the Fox Say video amassed another 200 million views since my post from six weeks ago!
Over the holidays my kids introduced me to QuizUp, the latest viral sensation offered
Like many industries, there has been much brand consolidation. The petroleum industry is a good example. I recall pumping gas in Iowa back in the late seventies — at a Phillips 66 gas station (recall that a couple of years ago Phillips merged with Conoco). While pumping gas in those days, I vividly remember
I’d venture to say that virtually every product sitting on a store shelf is crying out "try me" — some more colorfully than others, some more subtly than others, some more creatively than others, some more persuasively than others. However, most don’t just some out and say the words.
Assuming that to be the case, is it right that only one sauce brand can actually come out and say it?
Hat tip to GuestBlogger Mark Gallagher of BlackCoffee for providing the photo on the left and raising the question.
Turns out the "TryMe" brand has a long history, and it was first registered in 1926 with these style and format limitations (making reasonable a single syllable pronunciation with a silent "e"):
Then TRYME registered in 1996, again as a compressed mark, but this time without any style or format limitations (making the "TryMe" usage possible and still supporting the registration), and it now appears from the photos above, that the brand owner favors a compressed style that encourages a two syllable pronunciation ("TryMe").
I’m not sure if James Brown ever promoted the "TryMe" brand, but it might be a nice fit . . . .
It all leaves me wondering whether this two-syllable usage and migration undermines the validity of the trademark, by placing "TryMe" closer to the category of non-protectable informational matter.
For a sampling of other words and phrases found in certain contexts to be merely informational and not worthy or capable of trademark protection, see below the jump.Continue Reading TryMe? Trademark or Informational Matter?
Trademark types frequently encounter brand owners and managers with substantial misunderstanding and confusion about when use of the federal registration notice symbol is lawful. Most of the time a misuse or technical violation results from an honest mistake, but sometimes the misuse is, and starts out intentional, or perhaps the misuse begins to look intentional if it isn’t promptly
A couple of days ago, I promised to try and make the case for why the State of Minnesota ought to hire an experienced trademark attorney.
OK, so I’m a day late, but you can decide if I’m a dollar short too. By the way, it was the federal trademark registration record for the below
–Sharon Armstrong, Attorney
Last Friday, a federal court in Kentucky ruled that Fortune Brands, the maker of Maker’s Mark bourbon, enjoys exclusive rights in the dripping wax seal that adorns each bottle of the spirit. (You can read about the case in earlier stages in Dan’s post, here.). Fortune had sued Diageo, another beverage