Intellectual Property Law

Merry, Merry Trademark Season from Pittsburgh

By Mike Madison

From the Department of Joys of the Season to You, Too comes news that the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership not only owns a trademark registration for the phrase “Light Up Night” but is now — and I mean that almost literally, as in “in the middle of the holiday season” — sending out cease-and-desist letters to cities and towns around the country that also use that phrase.

The PDP and its predecessors have been using the phrase off and on since 1960 in association with an annual eve-of-the-season “turn on the public holiday lights” celebration and shopping orgy in Downtown Pittsburgh.  For many years, other towns in Western Pennsylvania – and around the world – have held their own Light Up Nights.

Over at Pittsblog, I posted some thoughts on the news.  One additional note for non-Pittsburgh readers:  The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is closely aligned with the local club of business barons, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, aka the ACCD.

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Full post as published by Madisonian.net on December 19, 2009 (boomark / email).