Sunday, June 29, 2008

Pat Pending and the Trademark

Speaking of great bands, "Pat Pending and the Trademarks" is still unused, except that, by typing it above, I have it copyrighted.

I was at Burger King (tm) after church today. My church is not copy protected, but it seems to be falling to bits at times. I saw there that the food chain had a commercial tie-in with the new Incredible Hulk -- the one that is, effectively, a do-over. (The film makers want to pretend that Ang Lee's version never happened, just the way that the people who did follow ups to Highlander decided to ignore #2 for #3.) No surprise, there, but I saw the figurines they were offering to tots, and I saw that...

a company had trademarked...

Dumpster Toss Abomination (TM).

The word "dumpster" is trade marked to start with, so no worries there. I am reminded of how Microsoft attempted to trademark "Internet" in "Internet Exploder." However, for "Dumpster Toss Abomination," how necessary is that trademark?

How many other people are really going to want to use it? How many deceptive practices do you imagine are occurring? My first thought was that "dumpster toss" was another term for vomiting after a night of alcohol poisoning. The "abomination" would therefore be the hangover.

I do not have much to say on this topic, but I feel that it was important to alert all of my readers that, if they were thinking about it, to stay clear of calling anything a dumpster toss abomination: that's taken.

Of course, a dump tossing abomination is another matter, and you're free to do that.

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