When looking at this photo, does any famous product come to mind? If you guessed Hershey’s chocolate bar, then you envisioned exactly what Hershey Chocolate & Confectionery Corporation is hoping to protect via trademark law. In 2009, Hershey filed a trademark application seeking to register the following trademark, which is described by Hershey as “a configuration of a candy bar that consists of twelve 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.” However, the Trademark Office Examining Attorney who reviewed Hershey’s application denied registration…
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Archives: Business Law
Six One Nine Vodka 619 Beer: A Positive Negotiation
May 9, 2012
Six One Nine Vodka and 619 Beer Last July, I wrote about Anheuser-Busch InBev’s application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register 619 (a San Diego area code) as a trademark for beer, along with similar applications for thirteen other U.S. area codes. To date, A-B has not launched 619 Beer, and their trademark application is still classified as “Intent-to-Use.” Around the same time, a friend of mine, Nick Apostolopoulous, mentioned his intention to launch a San Diego-based vodka company using the name Six One Nine Vodka. I informed him about the A-B issue, and he expressed some…
TOMS Shoes and BOBS Shoes
May 2, 2012
TOMS Shoes and BOBS Shoes One of my readers recently saw some shoes in a mall store that looked awfully familiar to TOMS shoes. Upon further inspection, these were BOBS shoes, made by Skechers. Who are TOM and BOB, and what’s the story with their similar lines of casual footwear?
Why “iPad” is Not Generic for “Tablet”
April 12, 2012
A recent story in USA Today asked whether “iPad” will become the generic term for tablet computers. While I’m glad that the media are discussing trademarks at all, I think the article didn’t accurately communicate how and why some trademarks become generic, while others don’t. Let’s take a look at the concept of Genericide, applied to how Apple positions its products, and show why “iPad” is not generic for “Tablet” in the real world. Genericide “Aspirin” was originally a trademark owned by Bayer. Over time, the word became, in the eyes of the public, a generic term for the underlying…
