Company and Product Naming, Brands and Trademarks: rants & raves, cheers & jeers, fun & foibles
There is an interesting article on how Intel chooses project code names listed on Wikipedia, using geographic place names. But the assumption that this style is used since geographic names cannot be trademarked is false - and Intel knows that. But right now I can’t find a button on the great Wikipedia to edit the article - only one to edit the citations.
As but one small proof to the contrary, it always fascinates me that a jewelry wholesaler owns the Rio Grande!
Isn’t it ironic that a technology project name, created a while ago and named after an ugly Scandinavian Viking war lord has become such a popular name that no one stops to think what the words Blue and Tooth used to mean in the English language. Pity the old vikings wore big woolly hats, so they didn’t end up with Blue Ears. Wouldn’t that have been a far more appropriate name for those flashing blue lights in many peoples’ ears nowadays?
At the last minute almost, Yahoo was forced to change the name of their new ad serving platform from Amp because of trademark issues. Surprise! Once again, engineering and marketing going charging off with great cool names without doing the most basic of checks. Sigh… not sure when marketing will learn it is their responsibilty to create, check and promote trademark intellectual property rights. And if a short, cool, existing word sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Yahoo Apt Logo
People have been naming software and services for over 50 years… and there are only so many words in the dictionary. So now they are running with what we are guessing is an abbreviation for Ad Platform Technology (or something else just as unimaginative). And from now on forward their marketing has to jump through hoops to explain it is not just apartment advertising. And not apartment advertising modified to serve all of us (I hope).
Even their own search engine, even when you put Yahoo in front of it, pulls up apartment ads right of way as well. Really…what is this going to cost them in time and money from here on out? How much are they saving by not getting professional naming help?
One of the advantages of having “first mover” advantage in any industry is the fact that you can sometimes legally tie up a good name which later would otherwise be judged to be generic - and therefore non-registrable. Such is the case with the name TopRank® for search engine optimization and marketing services. They have recently been blogging about how they have to be aggressive in protecting this name, especially in an online environment (the only field for which they have the trademark).
If the USPTO did their literature search today, they would see the words top and rank (or ranking) are surely widely used and therefore generic. But it is too late. Someone moved fast and was smart, although it really is a difficult name to protect and to own as a brand, since people have strong existing expectations of the words, before they are even educated to the fact that it is someone’s trademark. And there are many ways around it. And what is the industry generic way of saying getting a top ranking if top rank is a specific trademark?
So this award goes to them for trying to protect the name. Not for picking a name that is not unique enough. This is one of many cases I have recently run into, which is why I was reminded (writing as The Name Critic at Brighter Naming) to select Rollerblade® for recent analysis. They are a case study example of how to do it right. To protect the name Rollerblade, they told the industry and the press that the generic descriptor for the product category was In-Line Skates. For all I know (and strongly suspect) they made up In-Line Skates afterwards. Doesn’t matter.. the rest of the world has to describe their products as In-Line Skates, and can only use the term Rollerblade in its proper legal brand (now of the Nordica ski company) sense.
Similarly, in the biotech field, Genentech® is almost a generic if it was first used today, instead of the strong brand and category leader it has become. As an early mover (very early), they have polarized the rest of the word away from names using Gene and Technology…. which so many still dream of.. the basic descriptors for many of them.
This week I am working on a beer naming project, which is rather amusing because for weeks I have been thinking of putting up this posting about the Bass Ale name.
Have you ever sat in a bar and looked at the big red triangle in the Bass sign, and noticed that it says Trademark across it? They are a very special case in trademark law, as Bass is the first registered trademark ever issued anywhere in the world.
Yes, the British beat the USA to get their system going by a few months. And they selected Bass to be the first trademark. After all, what could be more British than a pint of ale?
So Bass has a name and trademark distinction no other beer will ever have. Of course, today it is a registered trademark around the world - and you do see the magic ® in the bottom right corner.
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