I am a Kentucky boy, born and bred. I drink bourbon. I love
college basketball. I have a picture of Secretariat
on my office wall. And, my eyes fill with tears every time I hear
"My Old Kentucky Home" sung at the Kentucky Derby. Since
this Saturday is the first Saturday in May, I couldn't resist
writing about the Kentucky Derby this week. There are many
Derby-related trademarks to discuss. "Derby Pie" and the
"Run for the Roses" come immediately to mind. But as
luck would have it, I hopped onto the Trademark Office's
website to see when the trademark "Kentucky Derby" was
registered. What I found was amazing.
As we have discussed before, words must be used in commerce to
be considered trademarks. The Trademark Office requires a sample
(called a "specimen") to prove that the mark is being
used. If you follow us on Twitter and Instagram, you see some great examples of
classic trademark specimens on a daily basis. The trademark
application for "Kentucky Derby" was
