I started the Trademark Blog ten years ago today. I was inspired by Bret Fausett’s ICANN blog and Prof Froomkin’s ICANN WATCH. Dave Winer had created software called Radio Userland that made blogging easy. Nathan Hoover set the thing up for me. At some point SpryNewMedia began providing hosting.

When reviewing some of the posts from ten years ago, I am struck by how many external links are no longer working – a reminder of the evanescence of the Internets.

There are 2,756 followers of the @Trademarkblog Twitter micro-blog. Documents made available through the Blog have been read approximately 900,000 times. A 2003 post about Yao Ming has been the most viewed post over the past month. Go figure.

There have been 4,573 posts published on the Blog. If your attorney had read all 4,573 posts, then they would be reasonably informed about trademark developments over the past ten years. If they had written all 4,573 posts* then they would be me (*with the exception of the three posts written by my dog, Ollie, pictured above).

context: I get emails from PR firms.

Dear Marty,

Donna Summer, the “Queen of Disco” famous for hits including “Last Dance”, “Love to Love You Baby” and “Bad Girl”, died early this morning after a long battle with cancer. Now that she has departed, questions will be raised regarding the intellectual property – the trademarks, copyrights, and the right of publicity – surrounding the songstress.

___________, an intellectual property attorney and partner with ________, is available to discuss the IP issues raised in light of Summer’s death. [He] represents the [name of a band that has pretty much nothing to do with Donna Summer] and he is a member of the Recording Academy. He can discuss the following:

Retention of rights to the intellectual property surrounding her name and likeness;

Trade marking of her name and why it’s so important;

The importance of having only one person control all of the IP related matters;

What happens with the rights to unreleased songs should any be discovered

Please let me know if you are interested in speaking with _________. I would be happy to schedule an interview. Thanks so much!

[PR person]

Whenever I forget that the Jets traded for Tebow, someone reminds me. Here’s a demand letter from Tebow’s attorney (Tebow is likely not arguing that the term JESUS infringes rights in his name, voice or likeness but is referring instead to the ad copy – see the exhibit). The website cubbytees.com is showing a ‘suspended page’ message today. The demand letter was obtained by TMZ.

tebow demand letter
var docstoc_docid=”120668302″;var docstoc_title=”tebow demand letter”;var docstoc_urltitle=”tebow demand letter”;

The Purple Heart is the oldest U.S. military decoration, given to soldiers killed or wounded in service. Plaintiff is the Military Order of the Purple Heart Service Foundation, Inc. The Service Foundation is the exclusive national fundraiser for the Military Order of the Purple Heart, a Congressionally chartered membership organization of Purple Heart medal recipients, formed for the protection and mutual interest of recipients of the Purple Heart. The Service Organization owns a US reg for PURPLE HEART for charitable fundraising services. It maintains a car donation program at PurpleHeartCars.org. Defendant operates a site at CarsHelpingVeterans.org, which solicits ‘Car Donations for Purple Heart Veterans’ and depicts the Purple Heart.

purple heart maryland
var docstoc_docid=”120667750″;var docstoc_title=”purple heart maryland”;var docstoc_urltitle=”purple heart maryland”;

Stockton Enterprises, Inc. v. Global Advertizing, LLC / kerry schorsch (company controlled by golfer Dick Stockton obtains STOCKTONGOLF.COM – registrant indicated that it was used to refer to Golf in the City(ies) of Stockton):

Welcome to www.stocktongolf.com. A Global network directory of Stockton golf. Golf courses, tee times, golf shops, supplies, equipment, golf real estate and related products and services. Golf homes, apartments, condos, resorts, land and lots. Golf recreational, commercial, investment, development and residential real estate for sale or lease. The city of Stockton is found in California, Alabama, Wisconsin, New York, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, Utah, Iowa and Maryland. Golf courses, supplies, and real estate from other cities, states and countries may also be found on this website. Scroll down to view. (emphasis added)

Dear US Trademark Office:

I received the email below from the good people at TMOfficalNotices regarding a Notice of Publication. I have two wishes for these. (1) They include the mark in the subject, or first line; and (2) The date is a clickable link that creates a MS Outlook ‘event.’

your pal,

Marty

NOTIFICATION OF “NOTICE OF PUBLICATION”

Your trademark application (Serial No.xxxxx) is scheduled to publish in the Official Gazette on Jun 5, 2012 . To preview the Notice of Publication, go to http://tdr.uspto.gov/search.action?sn=xxxx. If you have difficulty accessing the Notice of Publication, contact TDR@uspto.gov.
PLEASE NOTE:
1. The Notice of Publication may not be immediately available but will be viewable within 24 hours of this e-mail notification.
2. You will receive a second e-mail on the actual “Publication Date,” which will include a link to the issue of the Official Gazette in which the mark has published.
Do NOT hit “Reply” to this e-mail notification. If you have any questions about the content of the Notice of Publication, contact TMPostPubQuery@uspto.gov.