Archive for September, 2009
Getting The Bigger Picture With Trademark Filing Timelines
Screenshot of Trademark Filing Timeline
Our new interactive timeline for trademark filings is one of several tools aimed at highlighting the direction and focus of a given competitor. Additional information can be gained by examining the details of each trademark filing and browsing the full data set.
A demo has been set up in your Towergate Software client area. Please log in here and click on the recently added “Timeline” heading. The timeline will also be included as a part of the visualization widget set offered by TowerGate Software.
Who Wants to be a Fragrance Millionaire?
When it comes to non-conventional trademarks (such as sound, scents, shapes, colors and so forth), it’s interesting and, occasionally, a bit unsettling what companies will try to trademark. While perfume companies understandably want their particular carefully developed fragrances to be trademarkable, certain scents should be left alone.
“The olfactory memory is probably the most reliable memory that humans posses… Consequently, economic operators have a clear interest in using olfactory signs to identify their goods.”
Companies want you to follow your nose… And if the scent is trademarked, they figure your nose will lead you right to their doorstep.
So what kinds of scents do companies look to make theirs? Well, a Lithuanian company wanted to trademark the scent of pizza:
“Opinion polls show that many consumers in Lithuania identify the pleasure of eating pizza with our trade mark,” said Mindaugas Gumauskas, marketing director of the Cilija company. “This makes us believe that the scent of freshly baked pizza is a subject to our copyright.”
OK…
What I’d like to believe is that the smell of fresh fruit, such as strawberries or lemons, is sacred. Well, it is. For now…
Here’s hoping it stays that way.
Also, If you ever want to be a fragrance millionaire from your new cologne which smells like the beach, you’ll probably want to file for protection asap.
