Intellectual Property Law

Mt. St. Helens: Great as a Volcano, Not So Great as a Trademark

By Michael Atkins

Not much of a trademark, it turns out: Mt. St. Helens 30 years ago today

Big day in Washington history: 30 years ago today, Mt. St. Helens blew up.

Quite a day. I remember it well. My Dad was hiking nearby at the time and came home covered in ash.

I was ten.

In honor of this great day, I thought I’d see how the mountain fares as a brand.

Not great, it turns out, if federal registrations are the yardstick. In fact, I only found one: MT. ST. HELENS for “living trees.”

By comparison, MT. RAINIER is part of two federal registrations — MT. RAINIER BANK for “banking services” and MT. RAINIER WILDERNESS for “metal bells” — still a lot less than I would have guessed.

Photo credit: U.S. Geological Survey

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on May 19, 2010 (boomark / email).