What Types of Things Can Be Trademarked?

What types of things can be trademarked? I’m Angela Langlotz, trademark and copyright attorney, and I go live to answer your trademark and copyright law questions.

So people often ask me, what types of things can be trademarked? Well, anything. So anything: Any good, any service, any product that you have created or want to create can be trademarked. We say registered as a trademark.  And you can associate your brand, which can be your name or your logo or your slogan or your phrase, with that good or service that you’re offering to other people.

The trademark office has divided the entire universe of goods and services up into 45 different, they call them international classes. For example, cosmetics are in class 3, and supplements are in class 5, and clothing is in class 25, and coaching services are in class 41, and on and on. If you name any type of product or any type of service, it can be found in the trademark manual of goods and services, and it has been classified into one of those 45 international classes by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

One of the most important things that I do as a trademark attorney is to make sure that before we file, we know exactly how to describe the goods to the trademark examiner. Because if we don’t do that, the examiner has no idea what goods and services we want to associate with the trademark. And as I said a couple of days ago, there is no such thing as a trademark for everything. So when we file, we must describe the goods and services sufficiently for the examiner to know, AHA, they want to use this mark with these goods and services. It’s also important to properly classify the goods and services because I need to do a trademark clearance search.

So if you tell me that you’re using the trademark for hair brushes, that is different than using the trademark for paint brushes or brushes for car alternators. There are all kinds of brushes or brushes for cleaning, right? So we really need to make sure to nail down the goods and services that you want to register your trademark for. And that is one of the most important things that I do as the trademark attorney. So I talk with the client, I figure out how they want to use it. Maybe we even brainstorm some other opportunities for them to expand their trademark rights by including more classes of goods and services in the trademark application.

If you would like to know more about trademark and copyright law, please like and follow me. I do trademark videos every week and I have a YouTube channel. You can go search and find me online at trademarkdoctor.Net. I’m also on YouTube and on Facebook.

I’m on Facebook! “Like” my facebook page,  to be notified every time I go LIVE. Do you have trademark questions? Message me on the Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions on a future Live video.

Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.

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How To Register A Trademark

Angela, how do I register a trademark? I get this question a lot. I’m going to spend the next three or four minutes talking about this. I’m Angela Langlotz, trademark and copyright attorney. I go live here to answer your trademark and copyright law questions. If you would like to know more, you can go to trademarkdoctor.net and investigate there, or to my YouTube channel where I have over 500 videos.

So today I want to talk about how to register a trademark. People call and ask me this question, and they really want to know what’s the process. So generally, it goes like this. We need to first figure out what mark you are trying to register and the goods and services that you want to use that trademark with. Now, often the proposed applicant has only a very vague idea of the goods and services that they want to offer in conjunction with their trademark, and that can be a little bit problematic because there’s a whole bunch of stuff that cannot happen until we know the goods and services that the trademark owner wants to use the trademark with. So the reason why we need to know this is because I cannot do a trademark clearance search until I know the trademark and the goods and services that the proposed applicant wants to use it with.

So when people come to me and they say, “I want a trademark for everything,” I have to explain to them that such things do not exist. There’s no such thing as a trademark for everything. So it’s really important to nail down the goods and services that you want to use with your trademark. That’s a fundamental requirement because not only do we have to identify those goods and services for the trademark clearance search, we also have to tell the trademark office when we file the trademark application, the goods and services that you will be using your mark with.

So once we have that nailed down — and that can take some doing — then I can do a trademark clearance search. It’s important to do this because I don’t want to file a trademark application that has no hope of registration. So if somebody is already out there using a trademark, registered or not, for goods and services that are similar with a mark that is similar, then we may get either a rejection from the trademark office or a cease and desist letter from the existing trademark owner if they become aware of my client’s usage. So that can also be an issue.

Now, once we have the trademark cleared, we can file the application, and that’s done at the USPTO website. And again, that is part of the reason why I need to know the goods and services with which the client is going to be using the trademark, because if I don’t have that, then there’s no way for me to file the application because we have to describe in pretty particular terms the goods and services that are being used with the trademark.

Now, once the trademark is filed and the fees are paid, we wait. These days, we’re waiting about eight to nine months for the trademark office to get back to us. So that can be a little bit frustrating because we don’t know what the trademark examiner is going to say until they say it, and sometimes that can take a while. When the trademark examiner responds, it might be with a yes, we’re going to publish your mark for opposition, and I’ll explain what that is in a second, or they could say no, we think your application, your proposed trademark, is too close to somebody else’s trademark that’s already registered, so we’re going to refuse.

We can always respond to those with a response to they’re called an office action. We can respond to the office action and give arguments in favor of the applicant’s trademark registration, or they may just come back with some housekeeping thing, things like, Oh, I need you to disclaim the descriptive part of the mark. I need you to better describe the design that you’re trying to register. There may be all kinds of things that they come back with.

Ultimately, though, what we want to do is we want to have the mark published for opposition. That is a 30 day publication period where other people can raise their hands and say, hey, I object to this trademark. It doesn’t happen very often, but it can. And then, for example, if nobody does that, then the trademark usually issues in about 8 to 12 weeks. So that’s the trademark process in a nutshell. If you’d like to have me help you with your trademark application, you can drop me a line. I’d be happy to do that. I’m Angela Langlotz, and I go live here to talk trademarks and copyrights.

I’m on Facebook! “Like” my facebook page,  to be notified every time I go LIVE. Do you have trademark questions? Message me on the Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions on a future Live video.

Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.

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Trademark Certificates Are Now Digital!

Trademark certificates have now gone digital! We know that this has been in the works for a while now, but it has finally happened.

We used to have to wait weeks and weeks for the trademark office to send out the trademark certificates, and then I would receive the trademark certificate, scan the trademark certificate into the client file, and then send the client the certificate via snail mail. All very 20th-century, right? Well, the trademark office has now joined the digital age, and is sending trademark certificates — just kidding! They’re not sending the certificates at all.

When your trademark registration issues, the United States Patent and Trademark Office sends an email to the Registrant or the Registrant’s attorney, saying basically, “Congratulations, your trademark has issued!” and telling the Registrant her trademark registration number. It’s then up to the Registrant or the Registrant’s attorney to go to the USPTO Trademark Search Portal, and then look up the new registration either by serial number or by registration number, and download the digital certificate. I do this for my clients, of course, so their digital certificate comes in the “Congratulations on your trademark registration!” email that I send to my clients, along with a video about the care and feeding of their new trademark. I also docket the trademark renewal dates, so that we don’t miss those, and I can notify the client when it’s time to renew their trademark.

As of May 24th, 2022, the USPTO is now digitally issuing all trademark certificates. This means that the trademark certificates come to you as a digital certificate, rather than the paper copies that they used to send all of the registrants. Personally, I like the digital copies. I mean, it’s nice to have a certificate suitable for framing, and you can still get that. I’ll go over that in a minute. But if you’re trying to get rid of paper in your life, and I think we all are, it’s great to have a digitally authenticated digital certificate. Here’s what the new certificate looks like, with the authentication in the upper left corner highlighted:

Note: This is not my client.

You can see the authentication there in the upper left corner, and then the QR code in the lower left corner, and the signature of the Director of the USPTO in the lower left corner. If you alter the trademark certificate, the authentication in the upper left corner disappears. If you watch the video at the start of this post, you’ll notice that at one point, the digital authentication in the upper left corner of the document disappears. This is because the document authentication applies only to the authenticated document, not any alterations. So when you send the downloaded digital certificate to a third party, the authentication mark is there only if it’s not altered. Again, this digital signature is the hallmark of authenticity for this certificate. So don’t be surprised if after you file your trademark application, you don’t get anymore a printed certificate in the mail. They are all digital.

I think it’s great that you don’t have to worry about losing it or even keeping it, because you can download it at any time from the US. Patent and Trademark Office website, just by going to the search tool and entering your trademark registration number or serial number.

Now, if you’re a fan of having something suitable for framing, you can still order a digital certificate from the Patent and Trademark Office for $25,  and you can frame it and make it look really pretty. But if you don’t care about that and you’re happy with the digital certificate, this is great because you can download it at any time. You don’t have a physical certificate that you need to worry about losing. I love paper, but I also hate paper. It’s great, but it’s heavy and cumbersome and prone to loss and a whole bunch of other stuff that makes it inconvenient. So I really prefer the digital certificates because I think it makes it easier for trademark registrants to prove their rights because it’s digitally signed.

If you have trademark questions, please comment on my Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions in a future video.

I’m on Facebook! “Like” my facebook page,  to be notified every time I go LIVE. Do you have trademark questions? Message me on the Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions on a future Live video.

Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.

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What is a Trademark and How is it Different From a Copyright or Patent?

What Is a trademark and how is it different than a copyright or a patent?

I’m Angela Langlotz, trademark attorney. I go live here to discuss trademark and copyright issues. So this is a question that I get a lot. What’s the difference between a trademark, a patent, and a copyright? They all protect intellectual property — that is, intangibles, things that we cannot see or taste or smell — but they protect certain aspects of our intellectual property. The reason why so many people get the three types of intellectual property confused is because they may all apply to certain things, ideas, or objects, but each of the three types of intellectual property protects different aspects of that idea or object.

You can think of a trademark as protecting a brand identity. That is the connection between a certain good or service and a symbol or word or phrase that’s used in conjunction with the sale or offer for sale of that good or service. That is a trademark. A trademark can be any “device” — that’s the term used in the Lanham Act — that allows the consumer to distinguish between two or more goods or services. In order to be a trademark, the “device” has to be distinctive as to the goods or service, such that the consumer knows, when the consumer perceives the “device,” that the “device” is a symbol that is connected to that good or service.

Such a “device” can be anything — it can be a word, a phrase, a color, a smell, a sound — it can be anything that distinguishes the goods and services from a competitor’s goods and services. Some famous examples of weird “devices” are the color green for barbeques, the sound that distinguishes NBC’s broadcasting services, Harley-Davidson’s distinctive tailpipe rumble, Nike’s JUST DO IT phrase, and the Tiffany packaging that denotes a special gift inside a blue box.

A copyright protects creative works, things like poetry, music, choreography, architectural plans, books… anything that is creative and is reduced to a tangible medium of expression is covered by copyright. It’s important to note that copyright covers only works “reduced to a tangible medium of expression,” that is, it has to be fixed in a tangible medium. This means that copyright does not protect mere ideas. The idea has to be embodied in the physical manifestation of the creative work. This means that an idea for a creative work is not covered by copyright, but when you write down the idea in your next great novel, then it is covered by copyright.

Works are protected by copyright as soon as you produce them; you don’t have to register them with the copyright office. If you do register them with the copyright office, however, you get rights to enforce your copyright and the right to obtain statutory damages for any infringements of your copyright. This means that you don’t have to prove that you were damaged, only that someone copied your work, and you get damages.

Patents are for useful inventions that are new and non obvious. So if you’ve got something that’s useful and you want to protect the idea for that thing, and it can be a physical thing like some gadget, or it can be something not physical like a business method such as Amazon’s one click ordering. I think that’s probably still protected by a patent, but not for much longer because patents only last for 20 years. Unlike trademarks, patents expire after 20 years. A patent is, in essence, a limited monopoly in exchange for detailed information about your invention. The inventor discloses the technology, and in exchange for doing so, is rewarded the exclusive right to make, use, or sell that technology for the next 20 years, beginning on the date the patent was filed.

So those are the main differences between patents and copyrights and trademarks. Patents are for useful inventions, copyrights are for works of artistic creative expression, and trademarks are for protecting brands. If you have trademark or copyright law questions, drop them into the comments below. I’ll answer them on a future live video. Find me online at trademarkdoctor.net.

I’m on Facebook! “Like” my facebook page,  to be notified every time I go LIVE. Do you have trademark questions? Message me on the Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions on a future Live video.

Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.

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Why Should I Bother To Register My Trademark If I Have To Enforce It?

Why Should I Bother To Register My Trademark If I Have To Enforce It?
Every trademark owner has the obligation to enforce his or her trademarks; failure to do so means that your trademark loses its distinctiveness, and thus can no longer serve as a unique source identifier for your goods and services. Whether your trademark is registered or not, you have to enforce your trademark rights if you want to maintain the exclusive rights to that trademark.

Angela, why should I bother to register my trademark when I’ll just have to fight with other people about it? Anyway, I’m going to respond to some comments made by a viewer. I’ll answer any questions you might have if you drop them in the comments below this video. So yesterday, a rather cranky fellow made some comments on one of my social media posts on Facebook and had some things to say about getting a trademark. Let’s have a look, shall we?

He says his name’s Pat Hill. I’ll tag him in this so he knows I responded. He says, “Nobody defends a trademark infraction for free. Getting a trademark means that now, instead of litigating your common law rights, you can now wear the badge of litigating over someone using your trademark. Congratulations.

Either way, we need how much money, except with the trademark you’re out in extra $1,000. Well, he is greatly underestimating my fees, but he’s close. Except that with the trademark you’re out an extra thousand dollars on top of the expense for litigation. Whoo Whoo. Plus, let’s say if you get a federal trademark from the USPTO in your state, the Secretary of state can issue your business name to another entity, LLC or Corp.

If you registered your federal mark as an individual,” –not sure what he’s talking about. There no problem. Just litigate that too. And don’t expect the state Gov to understand that you were first. Service Mark — same thing. Lawyers want you to jump in the pool so you must swim –litigate — to get out.

I’ll stay on the lounge chair.” This is pretty funny. Lots of things to talk about here in this video. I am going to talk about the why bother getting a trademark? Because you’ll just have to litigate it anyway.”

So it’s true that as a trademark owner, you do need to police your trademark and stop other people from using it. The good news, however, is unlike a common law trademark, which does not have a trademark registration, when you get a trademark registration, you have a piece of paper that evidences your registration with the trademark office. And instead of saying to your infringer, “Hey, I was using that first!” without any actual proof, you have a certificate from the trademark office saying that on this date you began use and here is your trademark and it’s registered.

That is a much stronger position to write a cease and desist letter from than, “Hey, I was using that first.” That is not a strong position at all. In addition, when you get a trademark registration, you can get triple damages for willful trademark infringement. And if you tell somebody, “Hey, stop.

You’re using my trademark. See here. This is my trademark registration. It says that this is my trademark for these goods and you’re using it on the exact same goods, stop,” and they continue, you have the opportunity to get treble damages.

Now, do you have to litigate in most cases? No. Because when the Infringer sees that you have a trademark registration and you notify them, that they will, when they lose, pay you triple damages for the infringement possibly, that is a big stick with which to beat up and infringer. So having a trademark registration number one tends to deter infringement because your mark is in the record for other people to find and then avoid.

And then two, when an infringement occurs, it allows you to put the other party on notice that they’re violating a registered trademark and that there are additional financial penalties that the Infringer may incur if they continue. So that is a really good reason to get a trademark registered. Yes, sometimes it does end up in litigation. But my experience as a practitioner for 20 years has been when you’re already in a position of strength, when you’re in the legally correct position, and then you explain that to the other party.

Many times they will say, I see the writing on the wall.

I don’t want to go there. I’ll just stop. And then you can negotiate, not whether they’re going to stop, but when. So that’s a very good reason to get a trademark. I’m going to tag Pat in this video and let him know that I’ve answered his question.

If you have trademark or copyright law questions, drop them into the comments below. I’ll answer them on A Future Live. I’m Angela Langlotz, Trademark attorney. You can find me online at Trademark Doctor Net on YouTube, at Video Trademark Doctor Net, YouTube, and I’m also on Facebook at Facebook com trademark doctor.

 

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Owners of registered trademarks have an easier time enforcing their trademarks, because they enjoy the legal presumption that they are the true owners of the trademark — so there is less to prove in court. In fact, having a trademark gives the registrant a better position from which to demand that infringers stop their naughty behavior — you have a certificate from the government that says that you own the brand. You can also get triple damages for “willful” trademark infringement — quite a risk for the infringer if they lose.

I’m on Facebook! “Like” my facebook page,  to be notified every time I go LIVE. Do you have trademark questions? Message me on the Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions on a future Live video.

Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.

Why Should I Register My Trademark When The Secretary Of State Can Give Someone The Same Business Name?

Why Should I Register My Trademark When The Secretary Of State Can Give Someone The Same Business Name?

Why should I bother to register my trademark when the Secretary of State can issue somebody a business name that is very much like my trademark? A viewer asked that. I’m gonna answer it here in the next four minutes. I’m Angela Langlotz, trademark and copyright attorney. I go live here on weekdays to discuss trademarks and copyrights.

If you have trademark or copyright law questions, drop them into the comments below. I’ll answer them in a future live video. So I had a rather cranky fellow ask me — or actually just make sarcastic comments in a post on my Facebook page — and I wanted to respond. So here’s what he has to say. He says he was complaining about how why should you even register your trademark,

because all these other things can happen, he says. “Plus, when you get a federal trademark from the US Patent and Trademark Office in your state, the Secretary of State can issue your business name to another entity, LLC or corp if you registered your federal mark as an individual. No problem. Just litigate that too. And don’t expect the state government to understand that you were first.”

Well, there are a couple of issues that Pat seems to be confused about. Number one issue that he seems to be confused about is the difference between a trademark and a business name. Now, your business name and your trademark can be separate. It doesn’t matter if they’re the same. They can also be separate.

Now, just because somebody registers a business name doesn’t mean that they have the right to use that business name as a trademark if you have a federal registration. So just because the Secretary of State issues somebody a business name, that doesn’t mean that that individual or entity has the right to use an infringing trademark in the marketplace. Right. So what are some examples of this? So there is a company, a really big consumer products company called Colgate Palmolive.

And Colgate Palmolive makes a bunch of consumer products that don’t bear the Colgate Palmolive name. So I think they make Pledge furniture polish and Gain laundry detergent and a whole bunch of other consumer cleaning and household care products that don’t bear the Colgate Palmolive trademark. In fact, Colgate and Palmolive are both trademarks. But you don’t see Colgate Palmolive on consumer products as a trademark.

So that is a good example of a company, a rather big company that has a business name that is separate from their trademarks. So some of their trademarks, like Colgate, is a brand of toothpaste. Palmolive is a brand of dish soap. But aside from those two products, they have a bunch of other consumer products that don’t bear the trademark. So I want you to understand that your business name and your trademark can be different.

And just because someone is using a business name doesn’t mean that they are using that name as a trademark. For example, my trademark is Trademark Doctor. My business name is Angela V. Langlotz, a Professional Corporation. So my trademark and my business name are separate. They don’t have anything to do with one another.

So that’s a very good example of a business name and a trademark that are separate. So I just wanted to answer your question, Pat, and I hope you have a good day. If you have trademark or copyright law questions, drop them into the comments below. Find me online at Trademark Doctor Net. I’m on YouTube at video Trademark Doctor Net, YouTube and on Facebook Facebook com trademark doctor.

 

I’m on Facebook! “Like” my facebook page,  to be notified every time I go LIVE. Do you have trademark questions? Message me on the Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions on a future Live video.

Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.

Kanye West Infringes Infinity G8ds Logo Trademark

Music and fashion mogul Kanye West is accused of trademark infringement for stealing the trademark of independent fashion brand Infinity G8ds just months after asking Infinity G8ds designers to send him samples of their designs.

It’s not often that I see a trademark infringement quite as brazen as this, and I don’t understand how, in the age of social media, big brands feel like they can get away with this predatory behavior. Kanye West apparently believed that he was so big, that no one could touch him, but the jury that is social media is responding with indignation at this theft from a small creative company.

The story goes like this: In July of 2021, Kanye West invited the designers from Infinity G8ds to bring him some samples of their work to Atlanta, where he was working, stating that he “loved” the brand and the things that they were doing. They drove nine hours to come meet with the star. Then in August, Kanye debuted a new logo to promote his new “Donda” album. They were shocked to realize that it looked very much like their own Infinity G8ds logo. Have a look below:

On the left, Infinity G8ds logo, and on the right, Kanye’s “Donda” logo.

Let’s review the legal framework here. A trademark infringes another’s trademark if it would tend to confuse the consumer into thinking that the same company produces both sets of goods. It’s not that one has to prove that the confusion exists, one just needs to show a likelihood of confusion. Are the trademarks so alike that a consumer might be confused?

Then we ask, “Are the goods similar or related, such that a consumer would expect that such goods might come from the same company?” If so, then it’s trademark infringement. This question of what goods are “related” can seem very non-obvious to the layperson, so let’s dig into this a little. It’s obvious that some goods or services are “related,” because we see them sold together on the store shelves. For example, hair accessories and hair brushes are sold on the same store aisle, and it’s common for these two types of goods to be sold by the same company. If you walk into any drugstore or variety store, you’ll see hair ornaments and accessories like hair scrunchies and clips and barrettes being sold on the same aisle as hair brushes and other hair styling tools.

Sometimes, though, the question of what is “related” may be less obvious. Sometimes it’s harder to make the connection because it’s not quite as obvious. For example, most people don’t realize that sunglasses and cosmetics would be considered “related goods” under the trademark laws. Why? Well, when you walk into any luxury goods boutique, you tend to see cosmetics and sunglasses sold together. Chanel, Tom Ford, Armani, and Hermes all sell sunglasses and cosmetic in their luxury boutiques. It’s very common to see luxury boutiques selling sunglasses, accessories like belts and wallets, handbags, scarves, clothing, shoes, and cosmetics all in the same store. It’s so common that consumers expect that any such object bearing the brand trademark would come from the big brand names bearing that trademark. (These are also famous trademarks, but let’s leave that aside for now…) If another trademark registrant for sunglasses has a similar brand registered for your proposed cosmetics brand, you may be accused of trademark infringement if you use that brand on your cosmetics, because cosmetics and sunglasses are “related” in the marketplace.

 

About Trademark Infringement | USPTO

Jun 8, 2018 … Trademark infringement is the unauthorized use of a trademark or service mark on or in connection with goods and/or services in a manner …

In the current case, Kanye used a similar design as that used by Infinity G8ds on his clothing to promote his new “Donda” album. It’s identical to the Infinity G8ds’ logo except for the omission of the “infinity” symbol over the cross. Leaving aside the issue of whether or not the design on a tee shirt is trademark use, or “merely ornamental” use, I would say that yes, if this is “use as a trademark,” then this is trademark infringement.

As a business owner, it’s wise to avoid this type of trademark infringement. Besides being wrong from a moral standpoint — copying others’ works is not cool at all — from a brand goodwill standpoint, it’s also poison. It makes Kanye and his brand look bad, and leads to bad consumer feeling — no one likes a thief — and also leaves Kanye open to legal retribution from the company whose brand he stole. Just stay away from other people’s intellectual property.

I’m on Facebook! “Like” my facebook page,  to be notified every time I go LIVE. Do you have trademark questions? Message me on the Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions on a future Live video.

Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.

Pac-Man Trademarks: Expanding Your Brand

Pac-Man Trademarks: Expanding Your Brand

When you first obtain a trademark registration for certain goods, you may want to later expand your business beyond your original goods and services. To do this, just file additional trademark applications for the new goods that you want to cover. You must file additional applications for any new goods to which you want to apply the trademark, because you can’t add to existing trademark applications.

After a number of years, you may end up with a big portfolio of trademark registrations protecting products and services that are far beyond the scope of your original products.

Let’s talk about how to expand trademark coverage for your brand, I’m Angela Langlotz, trademark and copyright attorney. I’m going to spend the next three minutes discussing this. If you have trademark and copyright law questions, drop them into the comments below. I will answer them on a future live.

So sometimes people come to me and they say, “Angela, what if later I start expanding my brand to include other products and services? Can I add to my trademark application to cover those things?” And the answer is no. You cannot add to an existing trademark application or an existing registration. But what you can do is file new trademark applications for the new goods and services with which you’ll be using your brand. Let’s have a look at an example of a company that has done just that over the years.

Now, I know that you’ll all recognize the iconic Pac-Man video game, and that started quite a number of years ago, about 40 years ago, probably maybe even longer.

And since Pac-Man first got its trademark on video game cartridges, they have gradually over the years expanded the scope of their trademark to include other products as well. Let’s have a look. So here is the list of live Pac-Man trademarks and you can see down here they’ve got 36 live registrations.

Let’s look at the first one, the very first one that was issued in 1981. OK, so 40 years ago and it was issued for video game cartridges. We can see it right here. We can see their date of first use. The date of first use was 1981. We can see that right here. But they didn’t actually get the trademark registered until 1984. So there was a process for them apparently to do that. But that was their first trademark.

And then the second one was for the actual video game machine, the coin-operated video games themselves. And that was issued in 1983. So that was actually the first one that got issued, although they applied for the video game cartridges earlier. So what have they expanded their brands to now? There’s a pinball machine we can see here. They expanded it to pinball machines; in 2005, they filed for those. So we’ve gone from new school to old school. We’ve gone from video games to pinballs. So that’s kind of interesting.

Let’s see what else they filed more recently. It looks like they now have a Pac-Man cafe. So Pac-Man has moved into amusement centers. So they’ve gone from being just a video game to being a whole darned amusement center, probably chock full of Pac-Man games and memorabilia. And maybe it’s a cafe. Who knows? I’ve never seen one.

But you can see how brands can evolve over time when they become catchy in the public conscience. So this started out as the video game, became very popular, and now it’s in pinballs and other arcade games. And, you know, I’ve seen Pac-Man clothing and now they have a Pac-Man cafe. So even though the kids that are alive today didn’t grow up with Pac-Man like we all did, it’s still very much part of our consciousness, at least here in the United States, at least here in the West.

So that’s a very interesting look at a venerable brand that has expanded its reach over time. I’m Angela Langlotz. I come here to answer your trademark and copyright law questions. If you have those, drop them into the comments below. You can find me on Facebook at Facebook, dot com forward slash TrademarkDoctor. I’m on the net at TrademarkDoctor.net and you can find me on YouTube.

at video dot TrademarkDoctor.net forward slash YouTube. I’ve got almost 500 videos there.

We’re going to have a little party, a little celebration when I get to 500, and I will see you on the next video.

 

 

I’m on Facebook! “Like” my facebook page,  to be notified every time I go LIVE. Do you have trademark questions? Message me on the Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions on a future Live video.

Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.

Aldi Steals Caterpillar Cake Design From M&S!

Aldi steals caterpillar cake design from Marks & Spencer!

Naughty trademark infringer Aldi is at it again, this time targeting retail giant Marks & Spencer with their knockoff goods! We’ve seen Aldi knock off bock, their sister company Trader Joe’s has been seen knocking off some other goods as well. This time, Marks & Spencer have accused Aldi of swiping the design of the Marks & Spencer “Colin the Caterpillar” cake, and launching their own “Cuthbert the Caterpillar” cake. Aldi is being accused of knocking off copying stealing Marks and Spencer’s beloved Colin the Caterpillar cake design. Aldi is very cheekily denying that Marks and Spencer has any right to said design.

As ever, the likelihood of success on the trademark infringement claim hinges upon the question of the likelihood of consumer confusion, and also perhaps a claim of “dilution” of Marks & Spencer’s famous (or is it? That’s another question for the finder of fact…) Colin the Caterpillar chocolate roll, which Marks & Spencer has been making and selling for more than 30 years.

So let’s go ahead and look at Marks and Spencer’s Caterpillar cake design. They have been producing this cake for 30 years. And here it is. You can see their caterpillar cake right here. And I have no idea what these little guys are, but this is the the best picture I could find of this cake. And it’s a sort of chocolate roll cake. And I guess you’re intended to slice it and serve it up maybe for, I don’t know, Easter dinner or something. 

Now let me show you the cheeky Aldi knockoff that they’re calling Cuthbert the Caterpillar. So Aldi has created their own Caterpillar cake and has made it look very much like the Colin, the caterpillar, big googly eyes and all, are they the same?

It looks pretty similar to me and they’re even being cheeky about the whole thing. Aldi stores is sort of poking fun at Marks and Spencer for asserting their trademark rights to Colin the caterpillar, and they’ve developed this hashtag #FreeCuthbert.

So it’s pretty funny, the whole thing, but what can we learn from this? Just because you don’t think it deserves trademark protection, your competitor that you’re knocking off might take umbrage at your attempts to hijack their 30 year old caterpillar cake design and might just sue you for your cheeky knockoff. So, as I’ve always said, it is best to stay completely away from any famous marks and make up your own creative material, make up your own trademarks, make up your own caterpillar cakes. Don’t copy other people’s trademarks. 

This is yet another case to illustrate that 1) you can’t just make your own version of someone else’s goods and get away with it, and 2) you should stay away from any famous trademarks, because if you don’t, you are likely to get sued.

I’m Angela Langlotz find me on YouTube. I’ve got a huge YouTube channel there. I’ve got almost 500 videos. You can find me there at video dot TrademarkDoctor.net forward slash YouTube. I’m also on Facebook at Facebook dot com forward slash TrademarkDoctor. And you can find my blog at TrademarkDoctor.net. If you have trademark or copyright questions, drop them into the comments below the video. I will answer them on i future live.

I’m on Facebook! “Like” my facebook page,  to be notified every time I go LIVE. Do you have trademark questions? Message me on the Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions on a future Live video.

Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.

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“You Can’t Own Words!”

Angela, “You can’t own words!” That’s what somebody said to me a couple of days ago. I’m going to talk about that here over the next three minutes. I’m Angela Langlotz, trademark and copyright attorney. I go live here on weekdays to discuss trademark and copyright law and to answer your questions. If you have questions, drop them into the comments below the video. I will answer them on a future live.

So someone said to me, as we were talking on the phone, “Well, nobody can own words.” And I said, no, you’re wrong. That’s exactly what a trademark is. A trademark is ownership of the exclusive right to use certain words along with the sale or offer for sale of a product or service. So, yes, yes, you absolutely can own words. A trademark is a monopoly on the right to use those words as a trademark in conjunction with your goods or your services.

So when people say to me or I read online, “Well, you can’t you can’t just own words…” Well, yeah, of course you can own the words. That’s exactly what a trademark is. So it allows you as the trademark owner to prevent and punish anybody who uses the phrase or symbol or words that you own as a trademark in conjunction with your services, on their services, if their services or goods are related to yours. So if you have a trademark, that means that no one else can use your trademark with goods that are the same or similar to yours, such that a consumer would be confused.

If a consumer would be confused, we call that trademark infringement and you can sue people for that. That is actionable at law. So, yes, you can have a monopoly on certain words. And yes, that has been codified into the Lanham Act, which is our trademark law here in the United States. So the next time somebody tells you you can’t own words, just know that they are completely wrong and that, yes, you can own words and ownership of words, at least in the context of selling them or using them to sell goods and services — that’s called a trademark.

And yes, a trademark is actual property. It’s called intellectual property. It’s considered an intangible, but nonetheless it is property. Trademarks and other intellectual property can be sold, licensed, and purchased, just like other forms of property.

I’m Angela Langlotz. Find me online at TrademarkDoctor.net. I’m also on YouTube at video dot TrademarkDoctor.net forward slash YouTube. You can ask me any questions there and don’t forget to hit the like and subscribe button. I will answer your questions in a future live, if you’re lucky.

I’m on Facebook! “Like” my facebook page,  to be notified every time I go LIVE. Do you have trademark questions? Message me on the Trademark Doctor Facebook page, and I’ll answer your questions on a future Live video.

Contact Dallas, Texas trademark attorney Angela Langlotz today to get started on a trademark application for your valuable brand.

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