Today in Trademark History: 12/31

in ,

Forty-eight years ago today, one of the most celebrated and venerable marques in automotive history was first registered as a trademark in the United States.  On December 31, 1968, history was made when U.S. Registration No. 862632 was granted to Italian automaker Ferrari S.p.A. for the FERRARI prancing horse logo for “automobiles.”  A second FERRARI logo was registered in 1969 as U.S. Registration No. 874164.  Both registrations are still in force today, and both logos are still in use nearly five decades later.  Interestingly (to trademark nerds, anyway), while the FERRARI logo trademarks were first registered in the U.S. in the late 1960s, the name FERRARI was apparently not registered as a standard character mark for automobiles in the U.S. until 2004, thirty-six years later.

By Axion23 (Ferrari Emblem) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

By Axion23 (Ferrari Emblem) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Today in Trademark History: 12/19

in ,

Forty-nine years ago today, the DALLAS COWBOYS was first registered as a trademark in the United States.  On December 19, 1967, U.S. Registration No. 841044 was granted to the Dallas Cowboys Football Club, Inc. for “entertainment services-namely, football exhibitions rendered live in stadia and through the media of radio and television broadcasts.”  The Cowboys have continuously rendered their entertainment services, live in stadia and through the media of radio and television broadcasts, since 1960, and the 841044 registration remains in force today.

By Mahanga (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

By Mahanga (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Today in Trademark History: 12/2

in ,

One hundred fourteen years ago today, a marque made its mark in the annals of trademark history.  On December 2, 1902, Olds Motor Works was granted its first registration for the OLDSMOBILE mark for “vehicles.”  Purchased by General Motors in 1908, the OLDSMOBILE name endured for more than a century as one of the country’s most recognizable brands.  At the time that the OLDSMOBILE division was shuttered by General Motors in 2004, it was the oldest surviving American automobile marque, and the original trademark registration for the OLDSMOBILE mark was still in force.  However, because U.S. trademarks require continuous use in order to remain valid, Registration No. 39405 was ineligible for renewal and was cancelled in 2015.

By Krzysztof Marek Wlodarczyk (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

By Krzysztof Marek Wlodarczyk (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.