Tag Archives: trademarks

Subway has sent cease and desist letters to mom & pop sandwich shops around the nation demanding that they stop using the word “footlong” to describe anything on their menus that is…footlong. “You are hereby put on notice to cease and desist from using FOOTLONG (TM) association with sandwiches. You must immediately remove all references to FOOTLONG (TM) in association …

That woman with a clown car for a uterus has applied for a trademark on the word “octomom.” According to two applications filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by Suleman on April 10, and obtained by E! News, the enterprising 33-year-old is looking for the right to attach her infamous handle to (surprise) future TV projects, as well …

Ugh. The Sci-Fi Channel is changing its name to SyFy, because you cannot trademark “sci fi”. “We couldn’t own Sci Fi; it’s a genre,” said Bonnie Hammer, the former president of Sci Fi who became the president of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment and Universal Cable Productions. “But we can own Syfy.” Another benefit of the new name is that it …

Some guy in Russia has trademarked an emoticon. How much would you pay for a ;-)? A Russian businessman has trademarked the emoticon or combination of punctuation marks used to convey a wink in text messages and e-mail. Oleg Teterin, president of the mobile ad company Superfone, said Thursday he doesn’t plan on tracking down individual users following the decision …

The U.S. Olympic Committee wrote to the Seattle-area Northwest Bears Club to protest their calling this year’s camp-out the “Kamp Kodiak 2008 Olympic Village” on grounds of trademark infringement. (They also didn’t like the name “Big Ass Bear Olympics with Dr. Bob.”) Brendan McDonald, the event’s organizer, responded with this bit of hilarity: It is with bewilderment and amusement that …