{"id":9261,"date":"2019-12-27T03:33:45","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T03:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/?p=9132"},"modified":"2019-12-27T03:33:45","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T03:33:45","slug":"before-you-use-that-slogan-what-you-need-to-know-about-names-brands-and-tagline-before-you-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/tickets\/before-you-use-that-slogan-what-you-need-to-know-about-names-brands-and-tagline-before-you-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Before You Use That Slogan\u2026 What You Need to Know About Names, Brands, and Tagline Before You Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Sears has been a struggling Canadian brand for some time now and tried hard to hang in there before its recent bankruptcy filing. One of the things it attempted was honing in on specific products it could compete on and pumping dollars into ads. And one of those products was mattresses. So, with a new slogan in tow, Sears launched a campaign that told consumers: \u201cThere is no reason to buy a mattress anywhere else\u201d. With online ads, flyers, and radio spots, Sears was off and running.<\/p>\n

Until Sleep Country Canada took them to court. Sleep Country Canada claimed that Sears\u2019 new slogan infringed on its trademarked slogan, \u201cWHY BUY A MATTRESS ANYWHERE ELSE?\u201d, which Sleep Country has used in Canada along with a catchy jingle in print, radio, and online ads since 1994.\u00a0The court agreed, noting the striking similarity of the two phrases, and granted a temporary injunction, barring Sears from using the slogan\u00a0until a court makes a final ruling (something that won\u2019t happen for 12 \u2013 24 months and may not happen at all since Sears is shutting down). Sears poured tons of time, effort, and tens of thousands of dollars into the new campaign, and in one fell swoop,\u00a0the law stopped the company in its tracks. And while we don\u2019t know what the court would have ruled in the end, the similarity of the two slogans and Sleep Country\u2019s prior trademark rights are a good indicator that Sears would have had to back to the drawing board if it wanted to continue the campaign.<\/p>\n

Good Marketing Ideas. Bad Marketing Mistakes<\/h4>\n

So how does a multi-million dollar brand that\u2019s existed for decades make such a costly blunder? Well, it\u2019s more common than you\u2019d think.<\/strong>\u00a0You might not have heard of Abbot Laboratories, but it\u2019s a marketing goliath with over 74,000 employees and operations in more than 150 countries. So when it was time for a new marketing campaign for infant formula in boxes marked with the tag line \u201cONCE UPON A FARM\u201d, it thought it had a way to warm up to consumers who tend more and more to look for natural choices.\u00a0The problem was that a company with the exact name \u2013 Once Upon a Farm \u2013 already exists, and has trademarked the name in the US. A manufacturer of organic baby food, the company is small, but has already landed its product on the shelves of Target, Whole Foods, and Costco.\u00a0Once Upon A Farm filed a lawsuit against Abbot<\/a>, and they\u2019ve got a pretty good chance of winning in court.<\/p>\n

Before You Use That Slogan\u2026<\/h4>\n

When entrepreneurs, startups, and even big brands dream up names, slogans, logos, designs, and jingles, and whip them into marketing campaigns that they hope will drive sales, few consider the legal implications of such efforts.\u00a0Brands and the \u201cidentifiers\u201d or \u201cmarks\u201d\u00a0that make them up, such as business names, product names, logos, designs, jingles, and of course, slogans, are examples of intellectual property.\u00a0That intellectual property is a central element of what makes brands so valuable. But before you create and invest in intellectual property, you need to be sure no one else already owns it.<\/p>\n

The way to do this in Canada is with a search in the\u00a0Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) database. To search is free and the database is open to anyone. So why don\u2019t big brands use it? Most probably do, especially since they have large, high-paid legal teams and trademark agents on staff. Sears has no excuse.\u00a0A turn of events like this doesn\u2019t usually mean the end of a big brand.\u00a0But entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses can\u2019t afford to make these kind of mistakes. All the more reason to do their due diligence before pouring heart, soul, and bank account into a brand. There\u2019s just one problem\u2026<\/p>\n

Deciphering Trademarks<\/h4>\n

Unless you\u2019re a licensed trademark agent with an in-depth understanding of how the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) makes decisions about which marks can be granted and what constitutes trademark infringement, performing a trademark search on your own might not be the best idea. Without the proper training\u2026<\/p>\n

    \n
  • How can you be sure you\u2019ll know what to search for?<\/li>\n
  • Will you be able to find ALL \u201cconfusingly similar\u201d marks in the database that could lead to your application being rejected?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
    1. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \u00a0 Let me clarify with an example. Let\u2019s say you want to register the brand name \u201cLove Shirts\u201d in connection with clothing items. Will you know to search for alternative spellings like \u201cLuv Shirts\u201d or \u201cLove Shirtz\u201d? If you find those spellings, would they be considered confusingly similar and thus hinder your application\u2019s success, or are they different? What about \u201c\u2764\ufe0f shirts\u201d, or \u201cshirtsss\u201d, \u201cshirtzzz\u201d, or even something like \u201cLuv T-Shirts\u201d? And what about \u201cLove Sweaters\u201d?<\/p>\n

      Before you go about investing time, effort, and money into a brand, it\u2019s crucial to make sure you\u2019re not infringing on someone else\u2019s prior trademark rights.\u00a0To do this successfully, you need help from a trademark agent. One mistake or omission could mean major delays in getting your mark approved for registration or even your application\u2019s outright refusal, leaving you having wasted time and money and no better off. Luckily you can do this free! To help entrepreneurs and business owners, we\u2019ve launched our Free Trademark Search service. Our trademark agent will perform a search to verify that the mark you\u2019d like to register is available and registrable (meaning it does not violate CIPO\u2019s registration criteria).<\/p>\n

      [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Sears has been a struggling Canadian brand for some time now and tried hard…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[18],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legallogik.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}