If you were hoping to cash in on your not-popular-until-recently unibrow, you will no longer be able to do it by using the phrases “Fear the Brow” or “Raise the Brow”. Unless of course, you license them from Anthony Davis, the projected number one pick in the upcoming NBA draft. In an astute business move, Davis hired a trademark attorney and filed trademark registration applications for the aforementioned phrases in anticipation that his attached brows will become all the rage when he hits the NBA. CNBC had a pretty interesting read (http://www.cnbc.com/id/47951613) about the rise of unibrow-mania while Davis was playing college ball at Kentucky and opportunistic vendors trying to make a quick buck off his unique look. According to the CNBC article:
Month: June 2012
Boise State’s Trademark Registration for Blue Stadium Field: Trade Dress and Other Forms of Trademark Protection
Boise State recently licensed its blue field design to Hosei University near Tokyo, Japan. See article here. It turns out that Boise State possesses a trademark registration (U.S. Trademark re. No. 3,707,623) – which protects the color blue used on artificial turf in a stadium. Boise State’s blue stadium field trademark and licensing deal is a good example of the value of some of the more atypical forms of trademark protection and the need to think outside the box when thinking about trademark registrations.
Selecting Trademark Legal Advice, Successful Business Owners Choose Predictability
Business owners are usually big picture and entrepreneurial persons. Successful business owners typically have a thousand and one things they are working on at the same time. However, they are not successful because they over-schedule themselves. To be successful they cannot afford to know every detail and certainly cannot afford to acquire every skill needed to run a business. That is why they hire trusted professionals, such as accountants, lawyers, and IT professionals.
Choosing Your Trademark Application: Word vs. Design Trademark Registration
Your business plan is set. You’ve thought long and hard about what your business name should be. Now you’re ready to trademark your business name. You begin your trademark application and lo and behold there are two options for filing your trademark – standard character mark and stylized/design mark. So which should you choose? If you aren’t concerned about protecting any distinct look or style for your business name, then you might consider going with the former. If you have a logo or a stylized font or script that you want to use together with your name, then you might consider the latter option. Of course, there is more to the decision than merely deciding if you only need to protect a word or slogan or if you also need to protect design aspects of your trademark; so you should seek the advice of a seasoned trademark lawyer.
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