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Intellectual Property Law

: TradeMark Express: A Daily Blog

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14:59 and counting...

While I hesitate to add fuel to the fire that is the Joe the Plumber phenomenon, I figured since he's been in the news (again) this week that it'd be interesting to check out what's going on in the trademark world in terms of the name.

Back in 1996, the name Big Joe the Plumber was filed for plumbing services. The name has been in use since 1916 and is based out of Illinois.

Fast forward 12 years and we've got that phrase saturated into the 2008 political season. As with any pop culture/political phenom, there are folks looking to capitalize on it.

October 12th - Wurzelbacher asks Obama about his tax plan
October 15th - McCain uses the phrase "Joe the Plumber"

October 20th - the USPTO receives the first application for Meet Joe the Plumber
October 21st - two more applications come in, both for clothing
October 28th - three applications filed, 2 for plumbing services and 1 for chicken (I'm confused too). This is also the same day Wurzelbacher appeared at a McCain rally.
November 12th - after a small lull, another application was filed for plumbing services
January 2nd - the most recent filing (and likely not the last) is for clothing.

Now that Wurzelbacher is back in the news, we'll likely see even more filings. My vote for the next filing is for tax planning services. We'll see...

Full post as published by TradeMark Express: A Daily Blog on January 08, 2009 (boomark / email).