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Park Law
www.parkworld-online.com
Brand building and asset protection
Adding value to amusement businesses
Amusement venues and their of their trademarks or confusingly similar marks;
suppliers provide a unique however, the ability to seek recourse against an
form of entertainment. As T
o attract guests and gain market share,
amusement businesses must differentiate
themselves from their competitors’ attractions. infringer is more restricted for the owner of the
with many businesses, when One fundamental, although often misunderstood and unregistered mark.
aspects of the offering are under-utilized, means for achieving this goal is the use Having taken the above into account, if you are
lucrative, they may be of trademark protection. interested in acquiring and/or registering the rights to a
worthy of protection so they A trademark is a form of intellectual property and is trademark, you must chose a mark that is capable of
cannot be duplicated and usually comprised of a name, phrase, symbol, logo, functioning as a trademark as defined by law
®
.
used by those with inferior image, word, or a combination of these elements. By Trademarks (and their cousins for services, service
products or services. definition, trademarks have essentially two functions. marks) are generally defined as follows:
Heather M Eichenbaum First, they differentiate goods and services from one A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design
Esq and Timothy J Szuhaj another, and they also project distinct commercial (or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or
Esq explain how amusement impressions regarding the qualities and attributes of designs) that identifies and distinguishes the source of
venues can protect their those goods and services. the goods of one party from those of others.
value assets In marketing terms, trademarks create brand A service mark is the same as a trademark,
awareness and brand equity, which translates into except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a
increased revenue for their owners and users. Isn’t that service rather than a product.
the ultimate goal of all amusement businesses? Throughout this article, the terms "trademark" and
"mark" refer to both trademarks and service marks. In
Registered Trademarks short, a trademark is a label or “tag” that identifies the
Before jumping in and registering a mark, it is important source of certain goods or services.
to understand some of the many issues and In contrast, the name of a business or company is a
practicalities related to trademark usage and trade name. The terms “trade name” and
acquisition. First, trademarks in general, and US F
TM
ederal “commercial name” mean any name used by a
” Trademarks in particular, are not like obtaining a trade person to identify their business or vocation.
name or website domain name. Just because no one
else has the “mark” registered does not mean that it Trademarks Vs Trade Names
can be simply bought and owned like a domain name. In the United States, the Trademark Act does not allow
The last
Trademark rights relate to use of the mark; registration registration of trade names. Trade names are not
does not create these rights; it only enhances them. trademarks and serve separate and different functions –
thing you
A Federally registered trademark can be enforced they identify a business or corporate entity. Stated
want is
anywhere in the United States, while the protection another way: a trademark used in text is an adjective,
provided by an unregistered trademark may be limited while a trade name is always a noun. For example:
another park
to, for instance, a local geographical area where the ABC™ Amusement Park = trademark and ABC Inc,
opening a
unregistered mark is in use and recognised. ABC Enterprises and ABC LLC = trade name.
Trademarks are identified by a ™ if they are However, it is common for businesses to use the same
ride with the
unregistered and by a ® if they are registered. terms for their trade name and their trademark. This
same or
Businesses should account for the costs and timing practice is perfectly acceptable as long as the
of registration. A Federal Trademark application costs appropriate measures are taken to ensure that the
confusingly
$325 per class of goods and services and, on appropriate use of the term is maintained. Nevertheless,
similar name,
average, takes 12 to 18 months to proceed through it is very important to keep in mind that merely
the statutory review process and mature into a registering and using a trade name does not guarantee
whether it is
registration, if there are no "bumps" in the road. Those
®
corresponding trademark rights in the term or phrase.
an identical,
bumps can be substantial, resulting in costs and delays For example, Six Flags Inc utilises the Six Flags®
– and sometimes are fatal to the application. mark to distinguish its attractions from those of
inferior, or,
Owners of a Federally registered trademark and an competitors. Likewise, any amusement venue or
perhaps
unregistered trademark may both file legal proceedings enterprise can protect itself from replication simply by
for trademark infringement to prevent unauthorised use protecting its name through a separate registration of
worst, an
even better
ride!
”
Some parks with registered trade marks
58
NOVEMBER 2009
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