This week, Old Navy launches its 2011 holiday marketing campaign, which "invites customers to 'Come fun, Come all' and experience the secret source of all Old Navy fun — the place where the brand's quirkiest ideas are born and tested."

The "magical tour of where the brand's fun and quirky ideas are born and tested" is called "Funnovations Inc."

It's a way for Old Navy to breathe a little excitement into the brand by giving consumers a look at, and some input into, its product pipeline. The only question is if Old Navy used its Researchovations department to see if the Willy Wonka-esque "Funnovations" was already trademarked. (Hint: It is.)Continue reading...

The weather may be getting colder in its birthplace, but the Occupy Wall Street movement — which today rejoiced with news that Bank of America is backpedaling on fees — is heating up as more parties want a piece of it.

The unincorporated association of organizers behind the protests filed a trademark application last week (Oct. 24), seeking an official license to use the term in periodicals and newsletters, on clothing and bags and on a website with "photographic, audio, video and prose presentations." 

The bigger question: can a grassroots movement be branded, and who stands to win or lose? The trademark battle actually began weeks earlier, as brandchannel's Abe Sauer reported, with variations on the theme from "Occupy D.C. 2012" to "We are the 99%" and "I am the 99%."Continue reading...

The imminent change in domain names that will be ushered in by ICANN's new gTLD (generic Top-Level Domain) program is turning into a veritable war.

A last-minute campaign to stop it is being led by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), which has reached out to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Direct Marketing Association, and more than 20 other advertising and marketing organizations to join their protest. They're lobbying Congress and the Commerce Department on the new TLD program, which is scheduled to commence on January 12th, with the ANA telling Adweek they will take their objections to court if necessary.

Separately, another consortium of brands and trademark holders calling themselves CADNA, or the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, is hosting a conference today in New York, where they will discuss their concerns and collective proposal to ICANN. With speakers including the VP of legal for DirecTV and the former VP of digital for Mattel, CADNA is taking a less aggressive approach to the issue.Continue reading...

Boasting glamorous commercials with high production values, a recognizable "brand" and a million loyal brand champions, it was only a matter of time before opportunists started to look for ways to cash in. Now, both the 99% and the 1% are trying to claim 100% of the Occupy Wall Street and 99% movements.

On October 18, Robert and Diane Maresca, a couple from Long Island, New York filed to trademark "Occupy Wall Street" for use on "Clothing, shirts, sweat shirts, headwear, footwear."

"If I didn’t buy it and use it someone else will," reasoned Robert. The couple's pending trademark application for the movement is not the only one. Nor are private citizens the only ones trying to ride the populist wave.Continue reading...

On September 7th, Ben & Jerry's announced the impending release of a limited edition ice cream flavor — Schweddy Balls.

A punning reference to a Saturday Night Live skit starring Alec Baldwin, the suggestive name quickly attracted the ire of conservative groups such as the American Family Association.

Now, some supermarkets are reportedly bowing to the pressure and pulling the Unilever-owned ice cream maker's latest controversial stunt flavor, as AP and CBS are reporting.

Internet real estate as we know it will change irrevocably on January 12th, when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) starts taking applications for its new Top-Level Domain Program.

There are (currently) 22 generic TLDs (gTLDs) such as .com, .org and .net, and 250 specific country-code TLDs (ccTLDs) like .ca for Canada, .uk for the United Kingdom, .jp for Japan and .mx for Mexico. Come January, however, virtually any word or brand name can become a gTLD for a $185,000 application fee, proof of being able to pay for the gTLD going forward, and sufficient justification by the brand.

Dotbranding introduces a whole new way to surf the web, enhancing companies’ SEO strategy, heightening protection against interlopers and cybersquatters, and letting brand names serve as web addresses with the potential for a variety of sub-domains.

Deloitte, Canon, Hitachi, Motorola and UNICEF are filing for their .brand web addresses, according to Marketing Week in the UK.Continue reading...

That little leprechaun mascot of the University of Notre Dame may seem cute, but he means business when it comes to his trademark. 

Chapman High School, located in a small town in northeastern Kansas, was destroyed in a 2008 tornado and re-opened earlier this year. Now it has to give up its Fighting Irish mascot because the Catholic University in Notre Dame, Indiana, thought the logo and mascot too closely resembled its own, according to the Kansas City Star. 

“Chapman school superintendent Lacee Sell said Notre Dame told school officials that the leprechaun is a federally registered trademark the district is not allowed to use,” the paper reports, and a school district attorney “suggested” that the high school not try to make a stand. So if you’ve got any ideas for a mascot and logo for Chapman, the school is having a contest now to find a new one.

The high school doesn’t need to give up the name “Fighting Irish,” the Star notes, which is good because the Irish theme has been part of Chapman for some time, with a four-leaf clover prominently displayed on its website, which coincidentally is chapmanirish.net. Still, "Fighting Irish" has an even longer history at UND.

“I think we’ll get something bigger and better, and it’ll be all ours,” said Betty Ryan, a teacher at Chapman, to the Star. “We’ll always be the Fighting Irish, whether we can say it or not.”

Starbucks today announced its lightest coffee yet: Starbucks Blonde Roast. The java purveyor says more than 80 recipes were tested before settling on this blend, which will come in two varieties, Veranda and Willow, and become available at Starbucks retail stores as well as in its grocery stores (as packaged whole bean, roast and ground) starting in January. With the move, Starbucks' beans will be called Blonde, Medium and Dark.Continue reading...