Trademarks
CEASE AND DESIST LETTERS FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE–SINATRA ED.
Bill Loizon, a Birminghan, Michigan entrepreneur with a self-proclaimed “passion for humor,” sought to register the trademark FRANKS ANATRA for his award-winning catering business. FRANKS referred to his specialties, hot dogs and sausages, and ANATRA is Italian for “duck.” Get it? Neither did Frank Sinatra Enterprises, which filed an opposition proceeding in the Trademark Office to…
Read MoreCOOKIES & MILF
Vermont’s finest ice cream purveyors, Ben & Jerry, scored a quick, preliminary legal victory this past week against porn producer Caballero Video. A few excerpts from the Temporary Restraining Order issued by the U.S. District Court in Manhattan will convey the flavor of the dispute: Defendants are hereby restrained from using the designations BEN & CHERRY’S,…
Read MoreRED SHOES DON'T MAKE IT
Here is what I know about Louboutin shoes — the bottoms (what I have now learned are called “outsoles”) are bright red. Given how far removed I am from the vanguard of women’s shoe fashion, my association of red outsoles with the Louboutin brand ought to be conclusive evidence that red outsoles are one very powerful trademark. …
Read MoreTHE BIG GAMES IS UPON US
With the opening ceremonies of the Games of the XXX Olympiad just a few days away, the media are awash in stories about the U.S. Olympic Committee’s trademark bullying. (Olympic Gyro, a mainstay of Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market, it is reported, has been pressured into changing its name to Olympia Gyro.) The Committee’s aggressive tactics are…
Read MoreHERSHEY BAR GETS ITS ®
As a kid I was partial to the simple bas-relief design of the classic Nestlé’ bar. Once the raised border that surrounded the entire confection had been breached, the size of the next bite was limited only by the size of my mouth. I preferred to eat one letter at a time, beginning with the…
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