Shhhh! Is this a trademark? This is a good example where MINIMAL ART was used to qualify for a trademark registration, so that the coveted Federal registration symbol ® could be used in future marketing to establish credibility, ownership and standing.The USPTO ruled the name THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE PODCAST had to be disclaimed “because it is merely descriptive of an ingredient, quality, characteristic function, feature, purpose, or use of applicant’s services”.As is done, the USPTO Examining Attorney Kemi Odusami offered his rational “The attached evidence from Harvard Business School Online, Investopedia and Wikipedia demonstrates that “THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE” otherwise noted a TBL or 3BL is a business concept with three parts: Profit, People and the Planet.
This business concept posits that companies and business should commit to focusing on social and environmental concerns as they do on profits.”.Applicant accepted disclaimer – NO CLAIM IS MADE TO THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO USE “THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE PODCAST” APART FROM THE MARK AS SHOWN.So therefore, the reality is, THIS mark is ONLY about the “art”, this is what was achieved: “The mark consists of a rectangular tri-colored background comprising upper red and blue portions and a lower green portion with a circular white foreground with the literal elements arranged in vertical relation to one another from top to bottom as follows TRIPLE in red coloration, BOTTOM in blue coloration and LINE in green coloration within the circular white foreground.The trademark attorney knew exactly what he was doing. He filed application with the name and “logo design art” together. He hoped, but was not surprised the examining attorney would require a disclaimer of the name – but not the minimal logo. So, therefore his client could gain a registered trademark – OF THE ART.Could the USPTO Office Action be argued? Not sure, here, now. But, as we preach, comprehensive research would and should have been done beforehand to make sure no one else had the name in commerce and IF it could be argued in case of refusal by the USPTO Examining Attorney. In this case, it’s hard to tell because maybe it could have been argued, but the client chose not to.We would NOT have recommended the minimal logo design “art”, because there is nothing to research.
Circles, squares, triangles as used here. are universal. Having done over 400 logo design searches, I promise you it would be a waste of time and $ to research this logo. That is why we like to see clients logos before we are hired. We see lots of supposed art that isn’t art. Save that $!CONCLUSION So, was it worth about $2000-$3000 for a trademark attorney to do this work for the owner, Design Positive, LLC? Was it worth the $250 USPTO filing fee?
The answer is, for this nationally used podcast, is probably YES!The marketing advantage is worth it. The deking of wannabe competitors to stay away from the name THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE PODCAST is worth it. The truth is anyone can use the disclaimed name. Shhhh!Contact Us – Call – Anytime Zoom – Email TradeMark Express
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Urgent Trademark
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