PSFK: Interview with Freshjive re its logoless brandless campaign. MUJI has a 'no brand' brand as well - in fact its name MUJI is reportedly an abbreviation for 'no brand, good product' in Japanese.
WSJ: "Tide Turns 'Basic' for P&G in Slump":
In a subsequent meeting with Tide marketers, the packaging discussion focused on whether to abandon Tide's trademark orange. Shoppers on average spend 45 to 60 seconds in the laundry aisle, devoting just seven seconds to choosing a product, making color a crucial guide for finding the right product, P&G research found.The group considered yellow and blue, the other colors of Tide's famous bull's eye. A handful of other laundry brands used blue but few had yellow. "People kept insisting, 'Tide isn't yellow,'" says Mr. Tosolini. "But then we thought maybe it could discourage current Tide users, which is what we wanted."
Identity Forum: The Bug, the Worm and the Death Star (nicknames for trademarks).
NY Times: American Girl Doll Shares Name WIth A Suspect:
American Girl, the doll company based in Middleton, Wis., is expecting strong demand for the newest doll in its historical character line. The 18-inch doll, which went on sale on Sunday, is named Rebecca Rubin and comes with a storybook that describes her life in 1914, growing up on the Lower East Side as the daughter of Jewish Russian immigrants.But the F.B.I. is more interested in another Rebecca Rubin. Rebecca J. Rubin, who sometimes goes by the alias Little Missy, is a fugitive who was indicted in 2006 in a series of arson fires in Oregon dating to 1997, according to her F.B.I. wanted poster.
Birdsall Social Media: Logos That Look Alike HT MLG
. . . and other information about CRAYOLA Crayons here.
SciFi becomes SyFy. HT PC.
BusinessInsider.com: Twitter Paid Designer $6 For Its Icon
. . . which is pronounced like the letter Z according to this news report.
Alternative Super Bowl logos via the NY Times.
Go to Tweetgrid.
Select the size grid corresponding to the number of terms you want to track (the maximum is nine).
Enter the brand name (or any other term you want to monitor on Twitter) into the search window, hit search. You will note in the window above that I added REPLICA to a brand name.
Enjoy! Repeat!
And while we're on the subject of Twitter, there is an article beng bandied about concerning 'twitter-squatting' wherein folk are using famous brand names as twitter usernames. The article contains a list of which of the 100 most valuable brand names are not yet registered as twitter names. So I am not linking to it for that reason.
Having said that, it wouldn't kill you to go to Twitter.com and obtain your valuable brand names as twitter names. It's free.
Which list do you think the new WGN logo (right) was on? Brand New ranks logos.
Last year, small children ingested beads of toy named AQUA DOTS, which contained a substance similar to GHB, colloquially known as the date rape drug. The manufacturer has now re-branded AQUA DOTS as PIXOS.
Go to the Twitter Search Engine and put in your favorite trademarks as search terms, as well as such chestnuts as the word 'replica.' You will be shocked to learn that some people are using the Internets to promote counterfeit goods.
Brand New on Pepsi, Sierra Mist and Mountain Dew re-branding.
The Brand New Blog compiles this history of the Wal-Mart logo and discusses the new proposed logo.
Beauty Marks make valid points about Jet Blue's' new JETTING campaign, and its inability to obtain exclusivity to words such as JETS and JETTING (less so re JETTER).
IHT.com: "Beloved Characters As Reimagined For the 21st Century":
An unusually large number of classic characters for children are being freshened up and reintroduced — on store shelves, on the Internet and on television screens — as their corporate owners try to cater to parents' nostalgia and children's YouTube-era sensibilities. Adding momentum is a retail sector hoping to find refuge from a rough economy in the tried and true.Warner Brothers hopes to "reinvigorate and reimagine" Bugs Bunny and Scooby-Doo through a new virtual world on the Internet, where people will be able to dress up the characters pretty much any way they want. American Greetings is dusting off another of its lines, the Care Bears, which will return with a fresh look this fall (less belly fat, longer eyelashes).
. . .
Reinventing these beloved characters without inflicting indelible damage is one of the entertainment industry's trickiest maneuvers. Go too far, as Mattel did in 1993 when it gave Ken a purple mesh T-shirt, a pierced ear and the name "Earring Magic Ken," and it can set off a brand crisis on a global scale.
. . .
At KidsWB.com, which is rolling out a revised site over the summer, the studio will let people customize Looney Tunes characters as they see fit."You want a dark, Goth version of Tweety Bird? Have at it," said Lisa Gregorian, executive vice president for worldwide marketing at Warner Brothers Television.
Neatorama: "The Evolution of Tech Companies's Logos"
Google: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish:
You may have noticed that Google has a new favicon, the small icon you see in your browser next to the URL or in your bookmarks list. Some people have wondered why we changed our favicon -- after all, we hadn't in 8.5 years(!). The reason is that we wanted to develop a set of icons that would scale better to some new platforms like the iPhone and other mobile devices. So the new favicon is one of those, but we've also developed a group of logo-based icons that all hang together as a unified set.
It's good preparation for witnesses to advise them not to tell jokes and never, never use irony. Out of context, irony reads badly. The same goes for sleaking to the press. Take this quote in the IHT article "Dress for Less and Less" which discusses how price pressure has force items such as JOE BOXER briefs, LaCOSTE shirts, LEVIS jeans to fall in price since 1998 (while luxury items such as DVF dresses, and LV and DIOR bagshave risen):
We as a business cannot afford to have a customer take a second look and ask, 'Do I need this?' " said Bud Konheim, the chief executive of Nicole Miller. "That is the kiss of death. We're finished, because nobody really needs anything we make as a total industry."
Comments enabled.
NYT: "Can a Dead Brand Live Again?:
With much smaller sales than that megabrand, Brim soon disappeared — except, perhaps, for a vague idea of Brim that lingered, and lingers even now, in the minds of millions of consumers.What’s that worth? A small company in Chicago, called River West Brands, figures that it’s definitely worth something, and possibly quite a lot. The firm did its own research a year or so ago and claims that among people over the age of 25, Brim had 92 percent “aided national awareness.” "
Counterfeit Chic: "Copying For Charity"
Put a trademark into TweetScan, a searchable database of Twitter 'tweets,' and see what people are saying about your brand.
The problem with this OGC logo is probably shared with many OGC logos.
TechCrunch: "The Importance of a Good Name: Ditching Simluscribe For PhoneTag":
The name SimulScribe totally sucks for our business. People have a real challenge remembering the name and they cannot spell it, which is a real problem considering that new customers need to type in our web address to sign up. When your company offers a consumer product that relies on viral marketing, a difficult name is a really bad thing. In fact, I’m constantly amazed at how well we have been able to do with such a shitty name.
The Guardian: "Google is named world's most powerful brand by Millward Brown research":
Google, GE, Microsoft, Coke, China Mobile.
Discussion of the Droste Effect, packaging that contains a depiction of the packaging.
NY Times: "China Tries to Solve Its Brand X Blues":
Mr. Guo and the other Li-Ning executives have big plans for Li-Ning sneakers. Although they are currently serving the domestic market almost exclusively, they want to begin exporting to Europe and the United States — and go toe to toe abroad with Nike and Adidas, as it is currently trying to do in China. Mr. Guo told me the company now generates only 1 percent of its $700 million in revenue abroad; by 2013 — when it hopes to be generating over $2 billion in revenue — it expects 20 percent to come from exports.But to get there, Li-Ning will have to become a brand like Nike and Adidas. As Chiang Jeongwen, a Chinese marketing professor at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, said, “When you get right down to it, Nike is a branding company”; to compete, Li-Ning would have to become one as well.
Discussion here.
Facebook owns registrations in the US for:
It used to own one for THEFACEBOOK but amended it to FACEBOOK. It has applications for:
POKE
32665 (Facebook's text message shortcode)
FBOOK
THE WALL
F (stylized)
FACEBOOK INSIGHTS
FANSUMER
FACEBOOK PAGES
FACEBOOK BEACON
FACEBOOK ADS
BEACON
SOCIALADS
SOCIAL ADS
Circle (r) Brands is a branding agency that sells names complete with a federal trademark registration already attached. WSJ reports.
BrandChannel.com: "Do People, or does time, kill our favorite brands?":
From PanAm and Atari to Netscape and Cingular, did people put these brands into the graveyard, or was it simply time?
From the AP:
The History Channel in the United States is now history.Make that History. The cable network quietly dropped "the" and "channel" from its name recently, claiming History for itself. "Our brand is, in the media landscape, synonymous with the genre of history so I don't think it's presumptuous of us to call ourselves History," said Nancy Dubuc, the network's executive vice-president.
That's how many viewers already refer to it, she said. "Channel" is a drag on efforts to establish the brand in other media, like on the Internet. There were no licensing issues involved in the switch, she said.
The network has even changed its "H" logo to make it look bolder, less ancient.
Brand New ponders the Camel cigarettes logo and asks "if it's Turkish, what's with the pyramids?" Answer: the pyramids refer to the name Camel and not to where the tobacco is from. Of course.
There I was minding my own business. Cottonelle had some sort of sidewalk promotion, utilizing its 'Be Kind To Your Behind" tagline, when activists stepped in front of the giant Cotonelle golden retriever puppy-mobile, unfurled a banner, and dropped their pants to reveal underwear emblazoned with variants of the Cottonelle tagline, urging that we be kind to old growth forests.
Those of us who heard the Crazy Eddie commercials growing up will be intrigued by this mention by IPKat that someone attempted to auction the name on eBay, asking for $800,000, and getting no bid higher than $30k. Some background here.
CNN.com: New Car Names - How They Get 'Em:
Frazier speculates that it's no accident that carmakers especially like to use the letters S, E or X in various combinations.But there's a far greater sin in car naming, as far as some experts are concerned. Automakers commit it when they rely on meaningless strings of letters.
LV Roses in Japan via Imprintalk.
Brand New: Opinions on Corporate and Brand Identity Work (presenting opinions on brand identity and such, from UnderConsideration, a NY-based design firm.
BrandlandUSA: "News and history on brand preservation. Help us save, promote and preserve historic brand names. Help BrandlandUSA™ bring back America's best-loved dead brands."
The rifle-scope crosshairs so obvious in the old Blackwater logo have been reduced to a set of horizontal elipses that bracket, but no longer enclose, the paw print, which has also changed to more closely resemble an actual bear-paw imprint. The original Blackwater logo had thick white serif lettering draped over the crosshairs on a menacing black field. The new logo separates the image and the letters, which now appear in buttoned-down sans-serif black and slightly italicized on a white field.
Though the red elipses in the new logo retain the horizontal crosshairs, the overall look is far less “kick your butt” and much more “quarterly report,” some branding experts said. The new logo, which began to appear on some Blackwater material in late July, may also speak volumes about the company’s desire to begin its second decade on a more anodyne note.
NY Times: "Blackwater Softens Its Logo From Macho to Corporate."
Beaner's Coffee is changing its name to BiggBy Coffee. POPWink wonders what took it so long.
WSJ: Pepsi Steps Into Coke Realm: Red, China
"In most countries, the major rival colas are delineated by color: Coca-Cola Co.'s can is red, while that of PepsiCo Inc. is blue. But in China, Pepsi has departed from tradition and launched a red can as part of a new marketing campaign."
"In Deluxe, Newsweek writer Dana Thomas tells the stories behind the world's most famous luxury labels: how they came to be, why consumers love them, and where they fit in today's global economy.
Purchase Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster at amazon.com.
Weigh in: Have luxury goods lost their luster?"
NY Times: "The Ludlum Conundrum: A Dead novelist Provides New Thrills"
"Robert Ludlum died six years ago, but that has done nothing to slow the release of books published under the name of the actor-turned-novelist who specialized in thrillers built on a foundation of paranoia.
Since his death in 2001, 12 books with his name have been released. Twelve Ludlum books have been released since his death, with a 13th due out in September. The business is deployed now as a kind of film studio, presenting books completed by others or new ones written using his name."
Barrons: "Latest Trend: Trading Down" (no free online version): quoting a survey by WSL Strategic Retail as to whether consumers had stopped buying their usual brands in 14 cateogires becuase the price was too high:
"A full 45% of those surveyed said they gave up on thier favorite cosmetic because of price inflation. And 42% traded down on their perfume and magazines, or eliminated the purchases altogether."
Friend and former Westchester, now Seattle resident Jessica Stone Levy has begun a new blog "Beauty Marks" featuring 'miscellaneous thoughts about trademarks and branding."
WaPo: "The Pentagon Gets A Lesson From Madison Avenue":
"In the advertising world, brand identity is everything. Volvo means safety. Colgate means clean. IPod means cool. But since the U.S. military invaded Iraq in 2003, its "show of force" brand has proved to have limited appeal to Iraqi consumers, according to a recent study commissioned by the U.S. military."
You have to wonder how much Scholastic Books had to pay to get the White House to make Voldemort president for a few hours on Saturday.
Modern Drunkard Magazine: "Ten Greatest Alcohol Icons" (depicted here, The Hamm's Bear).
A very long list of things to do for brand protection on the Internet, written by Erik Heels. This is a very comprehensive list - and as I read it, I think of the inhouse departments that feel that they don't have the resources for the 'gotta haves,' let along the 'nice to haves.' So I wonder: what are your thoughts about prioritizing the items on this list?
Johnson Banks: "All Change" (On 'dynamic' that is to say multiple brand identities):
"The age of the static brand is coming to an end. Organisations, companies, institutions, even charities are realizing that having identity schemes that ‘flex’ and adapt to circumstances are more appropriate in the multi-channel, multi-lingual world that brands now inhabit."
Discussion of scope of protection for 'dynamic' brand here.
Further to our previous post on the verbing of trademarks (as in, I Tivo'ed the show, or I Zappos at work), naming blog Away With Words discusses the issue from a marketing perspective and makes the points that clients often want precisely that: verbable names.
WSJ: "101 Brand Names, 1 Manufacturer" (The pet food recall, highlights the fact that a single manfuacturer may be responsbile for many competitive brands).
This from a member of the Dunkin' Donuts 'tribe', customers whose psychographics guided the brand to position itself as an unpretentious alternative to Starbucks. Also, the tribe convinced the company to change its 'too stylish' logo. WSJ: "Dunkin' Donuts Tries to Go Upscale, But Not Too Far."
Via News.com, via Scripting News, a brand consultancy has issued a list of the most 'powerful' brands in the world:
1. Google--$66.4 billion
2. General Electric--$61.9 billion
3. Microsoft--$55 billion
4. Coca-Cola--$44.1 billion
5. China Mobile--$41.2 billion
6. Marlboro--$39.2 billion
7. Wal-Mart--$36.9 billion
8. Citigroup--$33.7 billion
9. IBM--$33.6 billion
10. Toyota Motor--$33.4 billion
The methodology may be questionable as Trademark Blog did not even make the Top 100 Brands List.
The Lords of Breakfast - a re-telling of Lord of the Rings but with breakfast cereal mascots.
A carbon-neutral conference, Interesting 2007, will re-brand your old schwag, rather than create its own. Via Kottke.
The Conglomerate: "I Can't Believe I'm Defending the American Girl Doll Racket":
". . . a young girl on a playdate took her Target knock-off of an American Girl doll to the Manhattan American Girl doll store and was refused the $20 hair salon experience for her nonconforming doll."
Naseem Javed (branding consultant): "A Gala Tribute to Global Copycats"
Bloomberg: CitiGroup to sell umbrella logo St Paul Travelers.
The biggest U.S. bank plans to sell its red umbrella trademark to St. Paul Travelers Cos. and operate under the ``Citi'' name after failing to get most consumers to think of anything except insurance when they saw the 137-year-old symbol. The deal, announced in separate statements, reunites the Travelers name with a logo that consumers still associate with the insurer and the slogan, ``You're better off under the umbrella.''
MIT Ad Lab: The advent of Internet-based flight tracking technology enables an entirely new kind of skywriting. Gulfstream Aerospace sent up one of their $50M business jets today on an 8.5-hour test flight spanning 11 states for the sole purpose of leaving their mark on the Net in the form of a flight track that spells out 'GV' (the nickname of the Gulfstream V aircraft being flown) when viewed online."
Bloomberg: Apple Ends Dispute With Beatles Over Trademarks
In 2003, I wrote here:
"In 1989 Apple Computer paid Apple Corps. (the Beatles' label) $27 million to settle a trademark lawsuit. I believe that Apple also paid several million in legal fees at the time (Apple's unsuccessful attempt at getting insurance to pay its fees reported here). Without seeing the 1989 settlement agreement, I can't comment on the somewhat surprising news that Apple Computer launched its new iTunes service without assurance that Apple Corps. wouldn't sue again. It has . . . This makes Apple Computer look like a repeat offender."
The illustrated history of sports logo: SportsLogos.net.
WSJ: "Fans Leap To Save A Road Icon" (sub req):
"Surveys showed that consumers preferred gas stations that were well-lit and had a "bright, clean look," he says. Color experts hired by the company said a red and white palette conveyed this orderliness. The orange balls didn't fit.
Starting in 2003, the balls started coming down and being replaced with flat signs with a small red-and-blue 76 logo. Kim Cooper, an author and cultural historian, noticed the new color scheme at a gas station near her Los Angeles house. "It made me feel unsettled," she says of the new colors. A couple of hours later, she had registered the Web site www.savethe76ball.com."
How Apple could fight Cisco
By Tom Krazit
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: January 12, 2007, 4:01 AM PST
MY COMMENTS ALL CAPS.
News analysis A cell phone is to an Internet phone as an airplane is to a faucet?
That analogy isn't likely to appear on the SATs next year. But that's precisely the question at the heart of the legal dispute over whether Apple will be allowed to use the iPhone name--currently trademarked by Cisco--for the new device unveiled at Macworld. Cisco sued Apple on Wednesday, claiming the iPhone violates a trademark Cisco acquired in 2000 and uses for a line of Internet phones.
NOT REALLY - RELATEDNESS OF THE GOODS IS A SUBSIDIARY ISSUE, AND ONE OF THE LESS CONTROVERSIAL ONES HERE. ARGUMENTS CAN BE MADE TO THE CONTRARY, BUT BECAUSE THE POINT OF APPLE'S iPHONE IS THAT IT IS '3 DEVICES IN ONE', ARGUING UNRELATEDNESS BETWEEN DIFFERENT TYPES OF PHONES IS NOT LIKELY GOING TO BE PLAN A.
IF YOU HAD TO GO WITH SOMETHING OTHER THAN LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION AS THE HEART OF THE ISSUE, I WOULD GO WITH 'STRENGTH OF THE PARTIES' MARKS."
There are a few avenues that Apple can pursue in defending itself against Cisco's lawsuit. However, no matter what the company does, it is treading uphill because Cisco has a registered trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to lawyers interviewed Thursday. "As a federal trademark holder, there are certain presumptions," said Grace Han Stanton, a trademark lawyer with Perkins Coie in Seattle.
RIGHT, HOWEVER, APPLE WILL CERTAINLY PICK UP ON THE FACT THAT CISCO FILED A SECTION 8 BUT NOT A SECTION 15 AFFIDAVIT IN THE SIXTH YEAR OF ITS REGISTRATION, SO IT WILL NOT HAVE A PRESUMPTION OF CONTINUED USE DURING THE LIFE OF THE REGISTRAITON. SECTION 8 MEANS CISCO STILL WANTS THE REGISTRATION, SECTION 15 MEANS THAT THE REGISTRANT HAD USED THE MARK CONTINUOUSLY FOR 5 YEARS (AND IF THE SECTION 15 IS ACCEPTED, THEN THE MARK WOULD BECOME INCONTESTABLE AGAINST PRIOR RIGHTS. IT IS ALSO PRESUMPTIVELY DISTINCTIVE.
INCIDENTALLY, ANOTHER NEWS ARTICLE ON THIS CASE POINTS OUT THAT CISCO FILED ITS SECTION 8 TOWARDS THE END OF THE GRACE PERIOD, AND THAT APPLE WILL ARGUE THAT THIS IS EVIDENCE OF ABANDONMENT. WELL, AN AFFIDAVIT FILED DURING A GRACE PERIOD IS TIMELY. GRACE PERIOD FILING MAY BE EVIDENCE THAT CISCO HAS A BUSY TRADEMARK DEPARTMENT. WHATEVER CISCO'S USE PICTURE WAS, THE DAY IT FILED ITS SECTION 8 IS BESIDES THE POINT.
Apple also apparently recognized the value of Cisco's trademark, as it started negotiating with Cisco for the rights to use the iPhone brand as early as 2001 and was involved in negotiations as late as Monday night, according to Cisco. Apple has declined to comment on its negotiations with Cisco.
APPROACHING CISCO SHOULD NOT BE HELD AGAINST APPLE AS AN ADMISSION OF LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION (BUT SHOULD MERELY BE AN ADMISSION THAT CISCO WAS AN 'ISSUE TO BE DEALT WITH." DICTA IN THE 2LIVE CREW CASE SHOULD INFLUENCE HERE THAT PARTIES SHOULD NOT BE PENALIZED FOR TRYING TO CLEAR CLOUDS FROM TITLE.
INCIDENTALLY, THE SUBSTANCE OF THOSE DISCUSSIONS PRIOR TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT COULD BE OF RELEVANCE.
One tack that Apple can take is proving that its iPhone is as different from Cisco's iPhone as Delta Air Lines is different from Delta Faucet, said David Radack, chair of the intellectual property department at the Pittsburgh law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott. No one is going to call Delta Faucet looking for a round-trip ticket from San Francisco to New York, so two companies can use the same trademark if they don't confuse the other's customers, he said.
SEE COMMENTS ABOVE ON RELATEDNESS.
Preventing consumer confusion is one of the primary reasons for trademark law, Radack said. Courts must consider whether the average consumer would be flummoxed by the fact that a faucet company and an airline share the same name. "Since the mark is the same, are the goods substantially different?" he asked.
This appears to be one facet of Apple's legal strategy, as one part of its statement Thursday in response to the lawsuit read, "We're the first company ever to use iPhone for a cell phone." Any court taking up the Cisco versus Apple case would have to decide if voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones are substantially different from cell phones, and while some might consider a phone a phone, it's not clear cut, Radack said.
THE ISSUE WIL NOT BE WHETHER VOIP PHONES ARE TECHNOLOGICALLY DIFFERENT FROM CELLPHONES BUT WHETHER IN THE MARKET, ARE THEY PERCEIVED TO BE SO DIFFERENT THAT CONSUMERS WILL EASILY DISTINGUISH BETWEEN SUCH OFFERRING EVEN IF THEY ARE UNDER THE SAME BRAND.
McDefense strategy
Apple can also argue that it owns a "family" of trademarks related to the iPhone,
For example, the iPod, iTunes, iMac, iWork and iLife products all bear a strong association with Apple, so the company could argue that consumers would naturally associate the iPhone with Apple.
SEE COMMENTS BELOW ON MARKET ANTICIPATION THAT THE PRODUCT WOULD BE NAMED 'iPHONE' AS EVIDENCE OF APPLE'S RIGHTS IN A 'i' FAMILY.
The most famous example of this strategy is used by McDonalds, which has successfully argued that any other company that attached "Mc" to their product, like a McPhone, is creating consumer confusion that the McPhone is a McDonald's product. Even though you really shouldn't eat a phone, consumers would automatically associate McDonald's with anything using the "Mc" . . ..
The problem with this argument is that the letter "i" is not a strong letter for trademark purposes, said Grace Han Stanton, a trademark attorney with Perkins Coie in Seattle. "There are a number of parties that use 'i' for Internet services," she said.
YUP.
For example, Sony uses a technology it calls iLink to describe its implementation of the FireWire, or IEEE1394, connection. And there's also a company that operates the iBoat Store, selling boats and boating supplies over the Internet. And several iPod accessory makers use lower-case "i"s in their product names, such as the Soundcast iCast or the Klipsch iGroove . .
WELL, THIS WILL CUT BOTH WAYS. IT SHOWS THIRD PARTY USE OF THE i PREFIX BUT ALSO IN A WAY THAT SUGGESTS AFFILIATION WITH iPOD.
And Apple has established an association between itself and the specific iPhone term because it went ahead and launched a product with a name that it didn't have clear rights to use.
YES, BUT APPLE ALSO WILL HAVE A LOT OF EVIDENCE TO THE FACT THAT THE PUBLIC EXPECTED THE PRODUCT TO BE NAMED iPHONE BEFORE THE ANNOUNCEMENT ON TUESDAY.
This is called "reverse confusion," when one company starts using a trademark used by another company, and the later entrant into the market creates a significant buzz around its products. Given the sheer volume of iPhone coverage and that Apple is better known among average consumers than Cisco, people might assume that Cisco is ripping off Apple's iPhone with its family of VoIP phones, Radack said.
HOWEVER, CISCO GOT THE COVERAGE IT DID IN ITS DECEMBER ROLL-OUT PRECSIELY BECAUSE ITS PRODUCT WAS NAMED iPHONE (WITH THE IMPLICATION THAT APPLE COULD NO LONGER USE THE NAME.
THIS IS AN IMPORTANT POINT. ONE ISSUE MIGHT BE: WHEN IS CISCO'S PRIORTY DATE, AND WHEN DID APPLE REALLY DEVELOP A STRONG i-FAMILY?
AS AN ASIDE, IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING THAT THE HIGHEST DAMAGE AWARD CASES IN TRADEMARKS TEND TO BE REVERSE CONFUSION CASES, BUT IN THOSE CASES, IT TENDS TO BE DAVID v GOLIATH. I SUSPECT THAT CISCO HAS A HIGHER MARKET CAP THAN APPLE (MAY BE WRONG) AND IS NOT A DAVID.
If either of those tactics fails to impress a judge or jury, Apple could also claim that Cisco has failed to defend its iPhone trademark, Stanton said. Cisco acquired the iPhone trademark when it bought Infogear in 2000. Since then, other companies, such as Teledex and Orate Telecommunications Services, have shipped products--products that directly compete with the Cisco/Infogear line of phones--bearing the iPhone moniker.
THIS MAY WELL BE ITS 'ACE IN THE HOLE." IT CAN LIVE WITH iPHONE AS A WEAK MARK. IT'S PRODUCT HAS 'OPENED' THANKS TO THE FREE COVERAGE.
Even Cisco doesn't appear to have actively used the iPhone name until weeks before Apple's announcement. Cisco says that it sold products under the iPhone trademark after it acquired Infogear in 2000--until it started selling Linksys VoIP phones using the iPhone name starting in early 2006. But references to either a Cisco or Linksys iPhone were not readily available on the Web sites of either division until December 2006, when Linksys launched the iPhone family of VoIP phones.
If Apple can argue that Cisco failed to defend the trademark until it launched the new iPhones in 2006, it could possibly convince a judge that Cisco abandoned the trademark, Stanton said.
NAH, ABADONMENT IS REALLY HARD TO PROVE. AND IF CISCO KNEW SINCE 2001 THAT APPLE WAS INTERESTED, I WOULD BE SURPRISED IF APPLE COULD ESTABLISH THAT.
Cisco has said that it used the iPhone trademark on VoIP phones sold in early 2006, and maintains that is has actively defended its trademark. "We have taken all actions necessary to satisfy all elements to prove the validity of our trademark under trademark law," a Cisco spokesman said.
However, settlement is the most likely outcome of this dispute, given the burden of proof on Apple needed to overcome Cisco's trademark registration, the lawyers said. "Even big companies get legal fatigue," Radack said.
ALTHOUGH APPLE HAS SPENT MILLIONS ON ITS LITIGATIONS WITH APPLE RECORDS. I DON'T THINK IT FATIGUES EASILY. I THINK UNEASE WITHIN MARKETING IS A GREATER RISK.
But Cisco has said that negotiations broke down over Cisco's desire for interoperability between its iPhone and Apple's. Apple is not known for its desire to make its products interoperable with anyone else's, so if there's no amount of money that could make Cisco happy, we could be in for a battle.
YES, INTEROPERABILITY MAY BE THE HEART, AND AS STATED ABOVE, APPLE MAY PREFER A RULING THAT iPHONE IS GENERIC BEFORE THEY AGREE TO EXTERNALLY-IMPOSED INTEROPERABILITY.
DISCLOSURE: I HAVE NEVER REPRESENTED EITHER PARTY. I HAVE CLIENTS WHO ARE EITHER ADVERSE TO OR HAVE DEALINGS WITH APPLE (SOMETIMES BOTH). I AM TYPING THIS ON A POWERBOOK. I DOWNLOAD MUSIC FROM iTUNES. MY PHOTOS ARE STORED ON iPHOTO. I WANT TO BUY AN iPHONE.
News.com is hosting a copy of the complaint in Cisco v. Apple.
Interesting aside: Apple allegedly blew the Ocean Telecom cover when it filed an application in Australia for iPHONE in Sept 06, identifying the same Trinidad & Tobago application for iPhone as a basis for convention priority, as is the basis for the U.S. application filed in Sept 06 in the name of Ocean Telecom (note - the Paris Convention allows you to file an application in which you have an establishment, and take up to 6 months to file for the identical trademark (in the identical applicant's name) for the identical (or fewer) goods/services, and claim the earlier filing date as the priority date of the later filed application. Thus, the U.S. and Australian applications, which were filed in September 06, will be treated for priority purposes as if they were filed in March 06 (although it would seem Apple will have to solve the discrepancy in applicant name between the Trinidad and the Australian applications).
Reuters:
NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile , Research) said on Tuesday it expected to reach an agreement with Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile , Research) later Tuesday on its "iPhone" trademark after Apple unveiled a mobile phone with the same name.
Cisco spokeswoman Penny Bruce said the two companies had been in discussions, and it believed that Apple intends to agree to a final document and public statement concerning the trademark.
"We expect to receive a signed agreement today," she said.
Linksys, a division of Cisco, has launched several wireless products with the iPhone name.
HT Jay.
Agenda inc.: "Marketers Expand Brands With A Bit Of Character" (on the use of 'brand ambassadors).
PopWink discusses neologisms arising from the popularity of Nintendo's Wii gaming platform. Given that I am not inclined to camp out in front of BestBuy, so far we are Wii-thout.
Cintara, a branding agency, puts out PopWink, a branding blog. Many good posts.
WNYC interviewed Bob Gill, logo designer, and author of 'Logomania.' (podcast should be available here Tuesday). Mr. Gill discusses his process for coming up with successful logos.
NY Times: "What We Talk About When We Talk About Brands":
"Consumer brand companies have long wished they could find a way to eavesdrop (legally) on customer conversations. Marketers can easily read Internet blogs, chat rooms and social networking sites, but what people say over coffee or across their cubicle remains largely unknown."
A collection of puns motivated by Nintendo's release of the WII platform, via Kottke.
NY Times (magazine section, not yet online): 'A Turn Of The Phrase" - making the argument that the 'Snakes On A Plane' phenomenon was similar to the 'All Your Base Are Belong To Us' pheonomenon, in that the phrase did not signify the underlying product but the 'disparate ensemble collaboration with one another on a separate work.'
Brand New: Opinions on Corporate and Brand Identity Work, maintained by graphic design organization Under Consideration.
We need to get a sectional for the family room but I'm worried that the dogs will chew it up. My wife suggests that we get a small transmitter that works with the 'invisible fence' system, but I'm skeptical. Also the kids still need to be reminded not to eat ice cream on the sofa.
So there's no way we would get a POLTRONA FRAU sectional, pictured above. In any event, there's an article in today's Wall Street Journal discussing how the owners of this Italian luxury brand, is teaming with two other luxury brands to create a new listed company, in order to emulate the multi-luxury brand strategy of a LVMH or Richemont.
Dilancian (Australian law firm) discusses the role of IP in the rise of the kiwi.
Frank Barnako in his Internet Daily discusses "Why Wikipedia Can Be An Advertiser's Problem," noting that Wiki entries on branded products are placing highly on search engine results, exposing users to potentially critical information about the products. Barnako quotes PR guru Steve Rubel (different one) to the effect that brand owners should resist the temptation to run to the 'self-editable' Wikipedia and edit. Rubel, in an extensive report on the Wiki/brand relationship , notes that the Wiki community can 'sniff out corporate manipulation.'
Discussion of Wikipedia sock puppetry here
Discussion of 'Being John Malkovich,' a film featuring a puppeteer, here.
Various logos, reimagined. HT kottke.
Austrian website Monochrom (an art-technology-philosophy group) attempts to investigate branding power by asking consumers to draw famous logos from memory.
Discussion of backlash agaisnt Coke in Somalia, now that Islamic Militias have taken over, via NY Times.
NY Times: "Mr. Peanut, You're Perfect. Now Change."
We have previously noted how the 'clash of civilizatiions' manifests itself in small part as reactions against Western brands (MECCA Cola and QUIBLA Cola, and the RAZANNE Doll).
However, as illustration of unintended consequences, I suggest that but for Al Queda and the Taliban, there would not be a Starbucks in Kandahar (albeit an unauthorized one). HT Ann Althouse.
NY Times article on the use of MY, YOUR and OUR in branding campaigns.
SyncMag: "I Invented . . . the Apple Logo."
From Forrester Research's 2005 Technology Brand Scorecard:
"In a reversal of the 2003 brand scorecard results, the past two years saw most device manufacturers' brand trust fall; only Apple and TiVo saw their brand trust rise. While brand trust dropped overall, there is tremendous variation in brand trust and in brand potential. In Forrester's brand scorecard analysis, Bose, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic, and Sony earn highest marks, while Microsoft, Gateway, and LG Electronics rank lowest. The brand scorecards include profiles of each brand's regular users and aspiring users, data that holds lessons for marketers seeking to reach new customers."
People apparently like to make things out of PEEPS.
In the RED BULL story we noted that team name formulations such as RED BULL NEW YORK are unusual for U.S. sports franchises. RW, a long time reader, emails me to point out that the ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS and the HOUSTON COLT-45s (what the Astros used to be called), would seem to fit the bill as names that incorporate a pre-existing trademark. I had been searching for the equivalent such as YOMIURI GIANTS or YAKULT SWALLOWS where the brand name replaces the geographical name. Excellent work RW.
C. F. Martin makes high-end acoustic guitars with good woods. It apparently has come out with a mid-priced model which contains plywoods and laminates, leading a purist to argue that this is the death of that brand.
I will merely state that taking a high-end trademark down market for a 'budget' line, is 'tricky' and leave the commentary to those in branding. The CEO of C.F. Martin gave an interview in 2003 and discussed this issue in passing.
The aptly named STRANGE NEW PRODUCTS BLOG. HT WordLab.
The owners of the RED BULL energy drink have announced its purchase of the Major League Soccer franchise, the New York MetroStars , which will be re-named RED BULL New York
While incorporating a pre-existing trademark into a sports franchise has been done for decades in other countries (YOMIURI GIANTS, BAYER LEVERKAUSEN), and while various U.S. sporting events and stadiums have been re-named to include trademarks (FedEx Orange Bowl, Minute Maid Field, Winston Cup), our unscientific slovenly-conducted survey failed to reveal a major professional sports team in the U.S. with a pre-existing trademark in its name.
Unless you want to include the Discovery Channel Cycling Team.
Should we count car-racing teams?
Historical note: In 2001, the NBA prohibited FedEx from re-naming the team it just purchase, the Vancouver Grizzlies as the Memphis Express.
Parents' note: The MetroStars actually administer my son's AYSO soccer league. They have done a magnificent job and there has been the expected result that my son is a MetroStars fan. However, I'm not crazy about him becoming hyper-aware of a highly caffinated drink.
Depicted above, the logo from Red Bull's other soccer team, RED BULL SALZBURG.
Fontshop: 'The Logos of Web 2.0 Companies.' HT Kottke.
An illustration of vertical arched lettering on player's jerseys from the CD discussed below. Vertically arched lettering vs. radially arched lettering discussed in this ESPN article. HT Kottke.
FoxSports.com: History of the NBA, including the NBA's reluctance to acknowledge the general consensus that Jerry West is the model for the guy in the logo. HT Kottke.
Christian Science Monitor: 'Status of US brands slips globally among teens.'
A collection of C's eating the next letter in the logo. Play guess the logo here. Via Be A Design Group.
Many logos to look at it here. HT Kottke.
List of top dogs in popular culture. Santa's Little Helper was certainly underrated at #75. People, such as my children, would think that Goofy is overrated at #5. I would have voted for Gromit as number 1 and Ren as number 2. Trademark dogs on the list include Nipper (RCA), Spuds McKenzie and the Taco Bell Chihuahua.
Apparently people still really like TAB soda.
Well, no, they didn't steal it. U.S. Steel let them use their logo at the time.
Hat Tip to Henry, who is the Official Email Correspondent of Trademark Blog XXL.
Via USA Today, via Snark Hunting, the 100 most common words in blog names.
Filed with the PTO December 21.
Unsourced rumors re Intel dropping the INTEL INSIDE trademark reported here by the Inquirer.
If things are slow you can go to uspto.gov and do an ownership search for recent filings by Intel (Intel has filed multiple applications for CORE INSIDE, XEON INSIDE and PENTIUM INSIDE, all since Dec. 1).
Animation of the evolution of the AT&T logo, with music, here.
For those of you following the Pajamas / Open Source Media naming brouhaha, we note that our firm provides trademark availability and clearance services at popular prices.
UPDATE: Pajamas Media signals retreat about as well as you can.
Logoogle, a site devoted to variations on the Google logo.
Just what the title says, from Wall Street Journal's StartUp journal.
