Since this is April Fool's Day, I thought it might be fun to
look at some of the ways trademarks have been used to levy pranks
upon the unwitting. Here are a few of my picks.
Groupon announces acquisition of APRIL FOOLS trademark
Groupon announced that they were now the owner of APRIL FOOLS
and had filed a patent application to more fairly police April
Fool's Day pranks. The patent application is entitled "System and
Method for Performing Jocular Activities on a Particular
Date." Groupon also claimed it was renaming the holiday
to GROUPON PRESENTS APRIL
FOOLSTM. They even posted cease and desist letters to the likes of
YouTube, Google and others.
BMW's MOTOR.MOUTH
In BMW's tweet today, they announced this new grill shaped
mouth guard for rugby players. BMW owns a trademark
registration for the shape of its automobile grill. If your
product shape or packaging is distinctive (called trade dress), you
can register this just like a trademark comprised of
