What We Know About Cecil

[Briny_Deep]

Dude. Attorney/client privilege? Or some kind of confidentiality agreement w/ your former employer? Especially here.

[Doomtrain]

You fools. You think Cecil is like Santa Claus. He’s more like a master ninja, skulking in shadows…

May he smite all the nonbelievers.

[Briny_Deep]

I meant what you were saying in your first post, not the trademark thing, which has been posted here before (and is of course public record), btw.

[schplebordnik]

It ain’t attorney-client, nor is it confidential, if it is in the public files of the U.S.P.T.O.

The interesting thing is that the Reader abandoned the trademark 3 years after filing it. Not sure why, unless maybe they decided to rely upon common law TM.

[Marley23]

The link you posted has expired, schplebordnik. What terms did you search for to find the case?

[schplebordnik]

www.uspto.gov
Go to Trademarks
Then Search
Then Advanced Search
Search for “Cecil & Adams”

It’s Application S/N 73631921

[Marley23]

Ah, okay, I did find that bit. I was expecting to see something about the case you mentioned. I get it now. Thanks.

[schplebordnik]

I don’t know if there was a formal litigation, which means there wouldn’t be a published decision or records of a complaint filed. So there may be no records other than the TM filing (which doesn’t necessarily support everything I said – just that the Reader tried to trademark the name Cecil Adams and acknowledged that it wasn’t intended to indicate a single individual).

Interestingly, there is a record of the USPTO proceedings here:
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=73631921
The TM was denied, that was appealed, and the denial was upheld. My guess is that denial was based upon the mark being the name of a person. The file (if anyone chose to order it, and it was still available), might be enlightening. The Reader may have filed some evidence to the effect that the mark wasn’t associated with any one person.

[Antonius_Block]

16. He once almost knocked out the side of a building with an overhead crane.

[Wolfian]

*Originally posted by schplebordnik *
**“Cecil” is not a person, but a trademark of the Chicago Reader. There has been more than one “Cecil.” (sort of like there has been more than one “Ann Landers”). I worked for the law firm that represented a former “Cecil” who tried to take the name with him when he left the Reader. He lost.

I’ll look around to see if I can find a cite, but I think the case was settled before any litigation transpired. **

So he’s like the Dread Pirate Cecil taking no prisoners in his attacks on ignorance. As you wish.

[Blalron]

Cecil is timeless. Cecil is ageless. Cecil shall live forever. In Cecil we trust.

[Jonathan_Chance]

Cecil is a sad judge of baseball teams…being a White Sox fan.

[Governor_Quinn]

However, the fact that he’s a White Sox fan suggests that Cecil grew up on the South Side of Chicago.

[Blackeyes]

The baddest side of town.

[Blackeyes]

*Originally posted by Mahaloth *
**Oh, I forgot this as well.

He seems to look down on the simplistic answers of David Feldman, who writes those (IMHO) pathetic “Why do Clocks run Clockwise?” books. **

I have a couple of those and I think they’re neat reads. In fact, before I knew better, I was going to write to Cecil and ask him if he ever wrote those books, because at the time I swore they were printed in Chicago.

[Sternvogel]

*Originally posted by whitetho *
"He has been written up in the Wall Street Journal and People and has appeared on the Today show…" ([sic]–we all know of course that Cecil never makes personal appearances

Someone purporting to be Cecil appeared on an early episode of NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman. I watched the interview, but can’t remember any of the particulars, although I do recall Letterman acting suspicious of the guy and suggesting that no individual could know so much about so many different subjects.

[Horseflesh]

His family has a history of epilepsy:

I don’t want to exaggerate the danger, but several members of Cecil’s family suffer from epilepsy, and one once had a seizure while cruising down the highway at 60 MPH.

[samclem]

Originally posted by schplebordnik *
I worked for the law firm that represented a former “Cecil” who tried to take the name with him when he left the Reader. He lost.*

When did you workd for the law firm? When did the suit supposedly take place?

[Baraqiyal]

*Originally posted by Sternvogel *
**Someone purporting to be Cecil appeared on an early episode of NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman. I watched the interview, but can’t remember any of the particulars, although I do recall Letterman acting suspicious of the guy and suggesting that no individual could know so much about so many different subjects. **

I think I remember this. An audience member asked “Cecil” how to keep squirrels off her deck (He didn’t know the answer).

[Muad_Dib]

*Originally posted by schplebordnik *
**“Cecil” is not a person, but a trademark of the Chicago Reader. There has been more than one “Cecil.” (sort of like there has been more than one “Ann Landers”). I worked for the law firm that represented a former “Cecil” who tried to take the name with him when he left the Reader. He lost.

I’ll look around to see if I can find a cite, but I think the case was settled before any litigation transpired. **

:mad: :mad: :mad: YOU SHUT UP!!! YOU SHUT UP WITH YOUR FILTHY WHORE LIES!!!