Trademark Registration

Ridiculous Trademark Oppositions  | January 21, 2012 By | No comments yet

Ridiculous Trademark Opposition of the Week – Glad Products v. Trans Western Polymers

The Glad Products Company (“Glad Products”) has been using the trademark GLAD since 1962 in connection with the advertising and sale of plastic bags.  If you walk down one of the 25 aisles at your local Walmart (don’t ask me which one), you’ll see that Glad Products offers all kinds of plastic bags for household use, including trash bags, food storage bags, and freezer bags.  Unless you’ve boycotted television over the past twelve years, you are undoubtedly familiar with the DON’T GET MAD GET GLAD slogan featured on many of Glad Products’ commercials.  You know, the ones where someone picks up a generic trash bag and the bottom splits, causing a gigantic mess all over the clean kitchen floor.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve been using generic trash bags for the better part of my adult life and I can’t say that I’ve ever experienced such a breakage.  So, I would encourage everyone out there to save a few bucks a year and purchase the cheapest garbage bags you can possibly find.  Trust me, your social standing with the neighbors and the garbage man will not suffer.
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Miscellaneous Trademark Happenings  | January 8, 2012 By | No comments yet

When Trademark Searches Go Wild!

This past week, I conducted a trademark search for a client that reminded me just how wacky and frustrating the Trademark Office can be.  For a variety of reasons, I am not going to reveal the exact trademark I searched.  Instead, I will say that I performed a trademark search on the mark THE CARBON MONOXIDE PEOPLE, which is used in connection with a business that sends trained professionals to your home to test for carbon monoxide leaks.  I can tell you that the client’s actual trademark is extraordinarily similar to the THE CARBON MONOXIDE PEOPLE and that it is used in association with closely related services.

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Miscellaneous Trademark Happenings  | January 1, 2012 By | 1 comment

“2012″ Trademarks: Amusing, Interesting, and Presumptuous

First of all, I want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!  I hope 2012 brings all of you much joy, success, and prosperity.  My New Year’s resolution is to continue building my trademark law practice and to spend more time seeing and learning about the world.  I’m actually going on my very first cruise in July (9 nights!) thanks to the extraordinary generosity of my Aunt Faye and Uncle Steve.  I also want to lose about 15-20 pounds, but I say that every year and it just never seems to happen.  I guess I should just be happy that I’m not gaining 15-20 pounds every year.  Perhaps the July cruise will motivate me to stop gorging myself at the local Chinese buffet.  If the Hibachi Grill Supreme Buffet in St. Peters, Missouri goes out of business, you’ll know why.  If it has record profits, well, there’s always next year…
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Miscellaneous Trademark Happenings  | December 26, 2011 By | 1 comment

Atlanta Braves File Trademark Opposition Against Disney’s Trademark Applications for “BRAVE”

I almost put this trademark dispute in the “ridiculous trademark opposition” category, but I didn’t want to add insult to injury after the Atlanta Braves’ embarrassing late-season collapse that resulted in the team missing the postseason after leading the St. Louis Cardinals by 10.5 games in the wild card race.  See, I actually do have a heart.
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Miscellaneous Trademark Happenings  | December 18, 2011 By | 2 comments

Can Coca-Cola Own Trademark Rights in the Word “Zero?”

This week’s trademark article is about one of my favorite sodas currently on the market.  It has that unmistakable Coca-Cola taste with none of the high fructose corn syrup that makes you fat.  Honestly, I have no idea why someone would choose to buy Diet Coke when Coca-Cola Zero is readily available and has so much more flavor and sweetness.  To me, Diet Coke is basically just fizzy water with just a hint of cola flavor.  If I go to a restaurant or fast food joint that offers Coke products but not Coca-Cola Zero, I always have to mix Diet Coke and Coca-Cola together so that I don’t consume a thousand calories of soda with the 4-5 free refills I’m sure to order.  Hey, I can’t help it.  I like soda.  I could have worse addictions, you know.
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Miscellaneous Trademark Happenings  | December 11, 2011 By | 1 comment

Is the Hershey Bar Eligible for Trademark Registration?

This week’s article involves a two year fight between the Hershey Chocolate & Confectionery Corporation (“Hershey”) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office regarding the chocolate bar pictured above.  On August 20, 2009, Hershey filed a trademark application seeking to register the following trademark for “candy and chocolate,” which is described by Hershey as “a configuration of a candy bar that consists of twelve (12) equally-sized recessed rectangular panels arranged in a four panel by three panel format with each panel having its own raised border within a large rectangle:”


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Trademark Infringement  | December 4, 2011 By | 1 comment

Chick-fil-A (Owner of EAT MOR CHIKIN Trademark) Objects to Use of EAT MORE KALE on Shirts

Chick-fil-A is the second largest chicken restaurant chain in the United States.  Its most successful print and television marketing campaign involves a bunch of cows engaging in desperate and hilarious antics in an effort to convert beef lovers into chicken fans.  For the past 16 years, Chick-fil-A has been using the tagline EAT MOR CHIKIN as a prominent part of these advertisements and, in fact, the EAT MOR CHIKIN campaign has won numerous industry awards for creativity and effectiveness.  If you are not repelled by the thought of consuming a crispy fried chicken sandwich and have not pledged allegiance to the King of Meats (beef), check out Chick-fil-A’s website to learn more about the history of the EAT MOR CHIKIN cows and to watch some of the more recent commercials.
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Miscellaneous Trademark Happenings  | November 28, 2011 By | No comments yet

No Trademark Search = Infringement Notice from Maker of Dr. Martens

A couple of weeks ago, I received a telephone call from a potential client located here in the Midwest.  He told me that he recently received a letter from a trademark attorney representing Airwair International Limited.  Airwair is the British company that manufactures Dr. Martens footwear.  Now, if you’ve ever owned a pair of Dr. Martens boots, you might remember that almost all of them have a prominent black and yellow fabric tag that has the word AIRWAIR emblazoned on it (as shown in the photograph above).  The word AIRWAIR refers to the fact that Dr. Martens boots have air-cushioned soles (called “bouncing soles”) that make the boots more comfortable to wear.  According to the letter my potential client received, Airwair has been using the AIRWAIR trademark in connection with footwear and various clothing items for over 25 years in the United States and that it is the owner of several federal trademark registrations for AIRWAIR.  I actually had a very cool pair of denim Dr. Martens boots back when I was in middle school and remember cutting off the AIRWAIR tag because I thought it looked stupid.  As an adult, I am now aware that this was a sacrilegious act.  Oops.
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Miscellaneous Trademark Happenings  | November 20, 2011 By | 1 comment

Ridiculous Trademark Dispute of the Week: The Battle for “YUUUP!”

This week’s article is about an awesome reality show on the A&E television network and some rapper I’ve never heard of who hopefully falls off the face of the Earth sooner rather than later after stirring up this ridiculous trademark dispute.  For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of watching “Storage Wars,” the show revolves around a bunch of competing auction hunters who bid on the contents of abandoned storage units after having only five minutes to conduct a visual inspection of the unit without being able to go inside and rummage through all of the stuff.  Now, I know that sounds about as interesting as watching someone cook a leg of lamb on the Food Network, but it is actually one of my favorite programs.  I mean, these guys are often risking thousands of dollars on trying to win storage lockers that might end up only containing costume jewelry and broken electronics rather than a safe stuffed with cash or rare antiques.  The best is when one of them thinks they hit the jackpot with a particular item but then later finds out it’s only worth a few bucks.  Call me mean-spirited, but sometimes failure is fun to watch.
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Informational Trademark Articles  | November 13, 2011 By | No comments yet

What are the Differences Between Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents?

Trademark Copyright Patent

It has been my experience over the years that people are generally confused about the differences between trademarks, copyrights, and patents.  The general public tends to use these terms interchangeably as if they’re synonyms.  Well, it is my hope that this brief article will clear up any confusion you might have about these three forms of intellectual property and will allow you to show off to your friends and family about how smart you are.  And I’m not even asking for any credit.
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