Creativity Life Cycles : Canadian Trademark Agent and Lawyer : Joshua MacFadden : MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman Law Firm : Patents, Intellectual Property

Within one day of the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, Disney Enterprises, Inc. filed three trademark applications  with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") for the trademark SEAL TEAM 6 in association with a range of products and services, including:  entertainment and education services, clothing, headwear, footwear, a range of toys, electronic games, etc. and  "snow globes", Christmas stockings, tree ornaments, and decorations.

Given the rushed nature of these "intent to use" filings it will be interesting to see whether the full range of products do, in fact, appear on department store shelves in the months ahead or whether Disney's filing was merely an effort to stake a claim on the Trademarks Register while they contemplate the business case and/or approach to capitalizing on one of the more significant United States news stories in recent years.

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Katie Thomas of The New York Times recently wrote an article on professional athletes seeking to obtain trademark protection as a means of both protecting their personal brand and capitalizing on their fame.

A quick review of the USPTO and CIPO databases reveals trademark applications and registrations for names, slogans and catch phrases for such athletes as Chad Ochocinco (Logo), Terrell Owens ("I LOVE ME SOME ME", The TO Design, and "GETCHA POPCORN READY"), and Darrelle Revis' trademark "REVIS ISLAND" while certain sponsors such as Nike International Ltd. protect the brands associated with their own athletes (i.e. LEBRON and the Lebron Design).

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The operators of the website www.thinkgeek.com received a cease and desist letter (see ThinkGeek blog here) earlier this summer for an April Fool's advertisement for "Canned Unicorn Meat" which included the tagline "Pate is pase.  Unicorn, the new white meat" and the promise that the product is an "excellent source of sparkles". 

The tag line "The Other White Meat" is registered in the United States to the National Pork Board thereby triggering the objection and subsequent apology from Geeknet, Inc. which includes a statement from Geeknet, Inc. President and CEO Scott Kauffman that "[i]t was never our intention to cause a national crisis and misguide American citizens regarding the differences between the pig and the unicorn.  In fact, ThinkGeek's canned unicorn meat is sparkly, a bit red, and not approved by any government entity."

The cease and desist and resulting publicity relating to the unauthorized use of the tagline is a rather amusing piece of brand news considering it relates to a non-existent product along the lines of earlier April Fool's jokes including a 2008 ad for the ZapCam, which automatically uploads video clips of taser victims to YouTube, or the 2009 ad for a Tauntaun sleeping bag (which subsequently became a real product).  

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In a further development of an earlier story relating to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office ("CIPO"), the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") has now issued a warning to customers regarding unsolicited communication from third parties requesting fees for certain services.The USPTO invites recipients of unsolicited correspondence concerning your trademarks to contact the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") where you receive correspondence from a party other than the USPTO or your agent requesting fees relating to your trademark applications and registrations.The USPTO warning is similar to the warning recently issued by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office ("CIPO") concerning such unsolicited correspondence.  If you receive such materials it is advisable to contact your agent and/or the Client Service Centre at 1-866-997-1936 (or at 819-934-0554 for international calls).

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