If Richard Branson has his way, it might be. Mr. Branson, the tremendously successful entrepreneur and chairman and founder of the Virgin Group has instituted a policy whereby the company’s lawyers aggressively target any company that uses the name Virgin in its own name, its marketing materials or within its URL. The Virgin group has […]
Most people think of Ski Town USA as Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The Steamboat Ski and Resort Corporation trademarked the name in 1959. Earlier this year, in order to entice more skiers to their city, the Visit Salt Lake organization started a campaign urging people to visit Ski City USA. They advertised that once you visited […]
Intellectual Property… You know that wonderful system that aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish. It’s supposed to be a ‘feel good’ approach to knowing that you’re covered and no one can take advantage of your priceless and genuinely unique inventions. The laws behind IP are a bit more precise […]
On August 12, 2014, the film director Terry Gilliam was sued over a mural painting in his latest movie, The Zero Theorem. A group of street artists, two from Argentina and one from Canada filed the lawsuit claiming the alleged plagiarizing their mural in Argentina. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Illinois and […]
Who Dat!”- The supporting cry for the New Orleans Saints is actually trademarked by a few San Antonio musicians. In 1983, Steve and Sal Monistere recorded their own version of “The Saints Go Marching In” with a “who dat” chant in the song and shortly thereafter trademarked both the “Who Dat!” And “Who Dat?” phrases. […]
USPTO Closed on March 3, 2014 due to weather.
In recent years, we are seeing common words being trademarked that borders on ridiculous. How can common words that are used in every day language and useded in hundreds of brand products be trademarked? One such recent example is game developer King.com attempts to trademark the word “Candy” for their Candy Crush game. Is this […]
Let’s say tomorrow I produce an amazing product (a honey that doesn’t stick, a soda that never fizzles, thread that easily goes through a needle) and I am ready to take this creation to market. Now, what do I call it? Something catchy of course. As I sit down with my friends and brainstorm names, […]
