November 4, 2008
The Naming Process Becomes Tricky for South African Political Parties
Starting a new political party is hard, but naming it is even harder, as a new political group in South Africa has discovered.
One of our staff members based in Cape Town reports that dissidents from the ruling party - the ANC or African National Congress - broke away a few weeks ago and tried to reinstate themselves as The South African National Congress only to learn that electoral laws stipulated that the name was too close to that of the ANC (much to the dismay of those who had already bought T-shirts).
They then tried to call themselves the South African Democratic Congress or SADEC, only to be turned away again because the name was already in use by a South African party that was unknown to even professional politicians.
This all follows the ANC's legal move to restrict not only the naming of opposing parties, but also the naming of their convention.
Currently, the party is simply referred to as the "Shikotas," an amalgamation of the names Mbhazima Shilowa and Mos iuoa Lekota, the party's two leaders.
However, the reality is that no matter what they eventually decide to name themselves, it certainly won't be a name that infringes upon the ANC's trademark.
This is all occurring in a maze of name change proposals that are meant to happen before 2010 when the country holds the World Cup.
Right now some of the country's major cities and towns, like Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown and East London, are set to be renamed so they do not sound so "colonial."
Even more interesting, some of the biggest streets in Pretoria may be renamed after Fidel Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara much to the dismay of many Afrikaners.
Technorati Tags: Naming Process, ANC, African National Congress, South Africa, South African Democratic Congress, Political Parties, Political Naming, Naming
Posted by William Lozito at 9:31 AM
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October 22, 2008
Banning Biker Brand Naming
It seems that even sadistic biker gangs can fall afoul of trademark violation these days, as the nefarious Mongols have discovered this week.
The FBI has decided to charge the Mongols with murder, attempted murder, assault, gun running and drug violations, and as part of their strategy to punish the gang for these infractions the FBI is attempting to seize their trademarked name.
The indictment calls for a court order outlawing further use of the name, which would allow any officer "who sees a Mongol wearing this patch ... to stop that gang member and literally take the jacket right off his back."
Some trademark lawyers call this move "troubling" and an "over-reach" of forfeiture law since the Mongols actually made the effort to trademark the name in relation to "interests of persons interested in the recreation of riding motorcycles" before allowing for it to be registered by a company called Shotgun Productions. This may prove to be a stumbling block for the FBI, as Shotgun Productions seems to have nothing to do with anything illegal.
There are also issues of free speech to consider, such as what happens to the pamphlets and other written materials that bear the Mongols name?
One blogger points out that rather than making the name illegal, the FBI can simply strike at the gang's legitimacy or else hammer the gang for using a trademark that is "primarily geographically misdescriptive" since none of the bikers actually come from central Asia, like real Mongols. However, the problem with this approach would be that the mark would remain in the public domain, while federal ownership of the mark would make it illegal for the gang to use it all.
Maybe the Mongols should hire the same lawyers that the Hell's Angels did when they sued Disney for "trademark dilution" for their representation in the comedy "Wild Hogs."
The Hell's Angels are actually the "Hell's Angels Motorcycle Corporation" and aggressively protect their mark not only against movie makers, but also against apparel companies.
Technorati Tags: Mongols, Trademarking, Brand Naming, Naming, Biker Gang, Hells Angels, Naming Rights
Posted by William Lozito at 10:28 AM
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October 2, 2008
Weather or Not, A Brand Name That's Cloudy
Steve Ballmer recently announced that Microsft will soon be launching a new OS called "Windows Cloud," for developers who want to write applications for cloud computing. Although the system most likely will not be called "Cloud" by the time it's released.
This move demonstrates that Microsoft clearly wants to be part of the "cloud computing" phenomenon; a phenomenon that has elicited a huge response across the Internet, mostly because it's so hard to define.
Larry Ellison is already denying the existence of clouds while others feel that cloud computing is "overhyped," even though few of us feeling the hype can, hand on heart, say that we understand what it actually is.
GNU founder Richard Stallman says cloud computing is a "trap" (well he would, wouldn't he? This is the fellow who says it's "worse than stupidity" to use Gmail).
My feeling? Cloud computing is here to stay, but this may be a case where the product name preceded the product in a big way. The best thing about it, from a naming perspective, is that the name itself has got us curious, and even arguing about it. I have already written about how the "Cloud" name has had trademark issues as eager developers try to make this particular product name theirs and think up a product or application for it later.
But by actually calling the new OS "Windows Cloud," Microsoft helps bring clarity and credence to an otherwise cloudy phenomenon.
Technorati Tags: Cloud, Microsoft, Cloud Computing, Brand Naming, Product Naming, Product Name, Windows OS, Steve Ballmer
Posted by William Lozito at 9:58 AM
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September 24, 2008
What do you think of the T-Mobile G1 brand naming?
The new Google phone is out and it has been named the "G1." Well, let me be more precise.
This is a Google-powered phone sold by T-Mobile USA that uses the vaunted Android operating system. It's official name is actually the "T-Mobile G1" leading one blogger to ask "G1, Gphone, Tphone - what will you call your Google phone?"
To confuse matters even further, HTC, the Taiwan based manufacturer of the phone, code-named it the Dream. I've rarely seen a technology device referred to by so many names.
When I first saw the term G1, I immediately thought that this must be for an old product. Why?
I was immediately reminded of:
- Apple's G-Series of Towers which ended in the discontinued G5
- Then there is the Pontiac G5 and G6
- Oh, did I mention that ASUS has a G1 and G2 laptop
- Finally, maybe this is a little bit of a stretch, but I was also reminded of the George Foreman G5 grill
While I agree with New Gadgets and Gizmos that the T-Mobile G1 Phone is not an iPhone killer, I strongly disagree with the assertion that iPhone will become a genericized brand, like Kleenex, Xerox and Band-Aids.
Just as Apple tightly controls third party developer software for the iPhone, it has a track record of vigorously defending its brand trademarks.
Technorati Tags: G1, T-Mobile G1, iPhone, Google, Pontiac, George Foreman, Computers, Cell Phones, Android
Posted by William Lozito at 8:06 AM
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September 12, 2008
Who has the right to Mandela Brand Naming?
South Africa is struggling with how to use the Mandela name as a brand and their problems are are quite interesting.
The Mandela name is iconic, and everyone seems to want to cash in on it. Coin dealers offer a "Free Mandela" medal for good customers, and recently one group tried to sell The Madiba Diamond ("Madiba" is the great man's nickname).
Brand Mandela has truly become a huge industry, with the Mandela name and likeness finding its way on to everything from comics to coasters.
The overuse of the name has led to protests by the Nelson Mandela Foundation of people "exploiting his name for commercial gain," mainly because Mandela himself wants the name only associated with charitable organizations.
Perhaps it is too late. The Nelson Mandela name is already being appended to South African airports as well as entire cities despite the Foundation's efforts to trademark Mandela's name, his clan names (Madiba and Rolihlahla) and his Xhosa name." On top of that, the Nelson Mandela Foundation should try to trademark his famous prison number, 46664, which at one point was being used on gold coins as well as Internet scams.
It really is quite a sketchy area in the brand naming business. Sooner or later, the Mandela name will simply become part of common usage, like Washington or Lincoln, and there will be few ways to protect it.
Mandela is now over ninety years old and it does seem that what the man actually achieved, which was absolutely extraordinary, may soon become another common part of South Africa's brand naming landscape.
Technorati Tags: Mandela, South Africa, Mandiba, Xhosa, Trademarking, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Mandiba Diamond
Posted by William Lozito at 8:01 AM
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September 8, 2008
Trademark and Naming: the Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Trademark law is a special interest of mine, not least because I am always interested in how good brand names are used (licensed) and misused (trading off someone's brand equity).
The Good: Lamborghini is now licensing its name for office equipment, which looks pretty interesting to a car loving desk jockey.
They also have licensed their name for a men's jewelry line. Here we see high end, finely crafted products that reflect well upon the mother brand: the watches offer "classic styling and superior performance under the most demanding conditions."
The Bad: AAA is defending its well known trademark against various pretenders, including one outfit called 
AAA Smogz and another company based in Tacoma called AAA Insurance, Inc.
The real question is whether or not there is a likelihood of confusion between the real AAA and a few imitators? The obvious answer, yes! The real AAA offers insurance and of course car related products and services. Many would consider this outright theft and we wish the real AAA well in its efforts to protect its very recognizable brand name.
The Ugly: The Tata Nano, India's answer to The Beetle, already had its clever naming poached by . . . bakers? Small time fruit cake makers in India are using the Nano name to sell their products and there is nothing that Tata can do about it. What's makes this even more interesting is that these fruitcakes just grab any name that is in the news and run with it. "People may not have any idea of the product or its quality but they will want to 
buy one just out of curiosity." This has led some people to think that auto giant Tata is now in the cake biz.
You have to wonder what Steve Jobs is thinking. Some people think Tata grabbed the Nano name after seeing the success of the iPod Nano.
Technorati Tags: Lamborghini, AAA, AAA Insurance, Inc, Tata Nano, iPod Nano, Nano, Trademark, Brand Naming
Posted by Diane Prange at 10:34 AM
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September 2, 2008
A Cloud of Vague Naming Besets Trademark Law
"Trademark [law]," according to the Paul Goldstein, a Stanford law school professor quoted in the New York Times, is the "sleeping giant of intellectual property." This conclusion was made for many reasons, but the one that catches my eye is the quest by companies to seek names for products that simply are not that well defined.
The two examples cited in the article are "Cloud Computing," which Dell unsuccessfully tried to trademark, and "Live Mesh," which Microsoft is currently trying to trademark.
Cloud Computing, an innovative offsite Internet service, is a great name because it speaks to the so-called "computer cloud" (all the devices out there that access the Internet). It's also a term that has been floating around the geek world for some time.
Live Mesh, on the other hand, is a super application that is meant to keep all of your web devices in sync, although it looks like the term Open Mesh is already in use.
It looks to me like tech companies, are discovering that names are being registered faster than ever before, especially after running into trademark issues on products that customers might have a hard time understanding, much less buying. Never mind the difficulty of "dot-whatevers," we're seeing a virtual race to get names into the books before the product development is even finished.
This is nothing new, of course. Companies in more traditional fields are already borrowing from different markets of brand naming to get their own trademarks. For example, "Mango" is a fashion line and there is a "Virgin" cola out there alongside the airline.
Business Line in India asks "Will we soon have motorcars called Sweat and deodorants named Cylinder & Piston?"
Of course we will. Names from different categories is one of the factors that helps keep product and brand naming interesting.
Technorati Tags: Trademark, Cloud Computing, Live Mesh, Open Mesh, Virgin Cola, Mango Fashion Line, Internet Naming, Fashion Naming
Posted by William Lozito at 8:58 AM
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