Do the slogans for some products really need to be protected with a trademark? Although it’s since been retired, my personal favorite example of this is a recent one for Snickers candy bars:
"Packed with peanuts, Snickers(R) really satisfies."(tm)
Doesn’t really roll off the tongue, even for the candy in question. Do they really think some other company is going to wrestle it away for their own product?
"Packed with peanuts, Microsoft(R) really satisfies."(tm)
As a point of clarification, Snickers now uses the slogan "Hungry? Grab a Snickers®."™, which, while again not particularly catchy, could be used on other products and so I can understand the desire to secure the trademark.
"Packed with peanuts, Arlen Specter(R) really satisfies."(tm) Paid for by the Committee to Re-elect Senator Arlen Specter.
Anybody else have other favorite examples of odd trademarks out there?
"Packed with peanuts, the Straight Dope Message Board(R) really satisfies."(tm)
With the help of the US Patent and Trademark Office (uspto.gov-with searchable trademark database!), here are some others no one wil probably want, and what they’re used for:
LADIES SEWING CIRCLE AND TERRORIST SOCIETY™ (clothing)
EXPLODE THE CODE™ (children’s educational workbooks)
FREE GOVERNMENT FUNDING EVERY YEAR FOR YOUR HOME BASE BUSINESS THAT YOU NEVER HAVE TO PAY BACK?! NO KIDDING!™ (audio tapes with intructions on how to get government funding for home businesses)
BUY YOUR KID A BASEBALL TEAM™ (various)
IF IT’S NOT RIGHT, WE’LL TAKE THE BITE™ (Little Caesar’s quality guarantee)
TOMMY THE HIP HOP CLOWN™ (actual clown)
WHY EAT WITH A CLOWN WHEN YOU CAN DINE WITH A KING™ (local restaurant slogan)
BOOGA MANIAC™ (local restaurant character)
Sure. Better safe then sorry. It may be unliked for someone to use your slogan, but if someone does, would you want to tell the boss that you didn’t bother to trademark it?
Sure, you’re not going to see “Packed with peanuts, Microsoft really satisfies” but you could see “Packed with peanuts, Payday/Mr. Goodbar/Kung Pao Chicken/etc. really satisfies”. Trademarks protect valuable name recognition. Any slogan popular enough for people to know (like the Snickers slogan) is ripe to be ripped off.
So it’s all about money, of course. Just another plot courtesy of the man. In any case, it’s just as well for the Snickers people. I think Arlen Specter really is packed with peanuts.
I’m not sure what the business is, or if it’s local or national, but in a paper here there’s ads for men to have “safe sex - get paid” and that slogan is trademarked.
One I’ve always wondered about is the Pantene “Don’t hate me because I"m beautiful.”
NEW YEAR’S EVIL™ (live exhibitions of wrestling events)
HAPPY ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE FROM CHICAGO™ (greeting cards)
O’FFICIAL BEER OF HALF WAY TO ST. PATRICK’S DAY™ (beer)
DR. BROWN’S TUNE-UP EASTER PARADE, FIFTH AVE.™ (lemon soda) [huh?]
MOM, THE MOTHER’S DAY BEAR™ (plush toys)
FOR FATHER’S DAY, CUT THE “FAT” OUT OF FATHER WITH THE GIFT OF SMART EATING™ (mayonnaise)
SHAMU’S HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR™ (entertainment services) THANKSGIVINGRECIPE.COM™ (computer services)
MORRIS THE CHANUKAH MOOSE™ (greeting cards and stationery)
I’LL HAVE A BREW CHRISTMAS WITHOUT YOU™ (Coffee)
I was mostly being facetious when I suggested that companies shouldn’t bother trademarking some slogans, but what the hey, I’ll defend it a little… I think if the competition really started using the slogan “Packed with peanuts, Mr. Goodbar really satisfies”, Snickers would get a lot more publicity from the ensuing legal volleys than from the original slogan. RealityChuck, I’ve gotta say that I chuckled at the picture of someone having to explain to his boss that he didn’t bother to register the company’s trademark. Hey, I work with people like that!
Here is my favorite of the ridiculous trademarks. A company out of Dallas called Despair Inc. has trademarked the extremely common frowning emoticon . They were saying that they were going to sue 7 million people that have been using it saying it would be the largest Trademark-infringment in US history. thankfully, they were only kidding. http://www.despair.com/
What “legal volleys” could they fire if they didn’t have a trademark? The trademark infringement is the cause of action. Without the trademark, there is no legal protection.
Zoff, point well taken. My understanding is that as long as Mr. Goodbar didn’t try to trademark the slogan that Snickers was already using, I guess Snickers wouldn’t have much of a case. Still, I have met lawyers and I’ve got to think that Snickers could still come up with some reason to take legal action, even if the real goal was just publicity. And I wouldn’t want to be on the business end of those Snickers lawyers; they are, after all, packed with peanuts.
And, fortunately for their spouses, they really satisfy.
Actually, Snickers would be able to go after Mr. Goodbar even if they didn’t try to trademark the phrase. It’s infringement to use somebody else’s TM. By the way, I’m assuming Snickers and Mr. Goodbar aren’t made by the same company – I don’t have a candy machine on me right now.
So did I. A few years back I did this kind of work for a marketing consulting firm; making names, catch phrases, ad slogans, that kind of thing. When the company I was working with last year wanted to change their name, I told them that I could put them in touch with a trademark lawyer who could check that the new name was available within a day or two.
Their response? “Don’t worry, we’re taking care of it.”
The result? Six months later the CEO is explaining that we have to change the name again because it’s already being used by another software company!
No, I don’t work there anymore. They fired me (and all the other foreigners) last month and are now going bankrupt. Big surprise.
. They were saying that they were going to sue 7 million people that have been using it saying it would be the largest Trademark-infringment in US history. thankfully, they were only kidding.