Legal Commentary

I offer the following consumer experience as fodder for the debate in the intellectual property field over the appropriate balance of trademark protection. While on a road trip recently, I convinced my husband to stop at a Friendly®?s (for old time?s sake). The menu revealed the following mind boggling collection of trademarked treats:

Super Sizzlin'? breakfasts

Big-Two-Do® (eggs, choice of meat, toast and pancakes or French toast)

Super Big-Two-Do® (the above with home fries)

SuperMelts?

Kickin' Buffalo? Chicken Salad, Chicken Sandwich, Chicken Wrap and Chicken Platter

Clamboat® Basket

Fishamajig®

Friendly's Big Beef® Burger

Friendly Frank®

Royal Razz® (raspberry drink)

Slammer? (Watermelon or Orange)

Fribble® Shake

Fribbleccino? (also in Mocha Latte and Carmel)

Various ice cream flavors: Nuts Over Caramel®, Forbidden Chocolate®, Vienna Mocha Chunk®

Hunka Chunka PB Fudge?, Purely Pistachio®

Friend-z® (frozen blended treat, see below)

Jim Dandy? (akin to a banana split)

Giant Crowd Pleaser? (twelve scoops)

Most amusing, however, was the current trademarked Friendly®?s special promotion. We struggled to keep straight faces while our chipper young server inquired whether we would like a Happy Ending® (sundae) to finish our meal. In fact, we?re still chuckling picturing the Friendly®?s marketing meeting where they decided to adopt this slogan ? we figure it had to be ten suits around a table oblivious to the double entendre with one Gen Y staffer taking notes while desperately stifling giggles.

For what it?s worth, from the perspective of someone who in this context is a mere consumer with no axe to grind about the various legal and policy arguments, the number of trademarks protecting rather simple words/phrases and applied to quite common place products seems a bit out of hand. If you want to talk about consumer confusion (which I understand is important in trademark policy debates) picture me attempting to secure a frozen blended treat and struggling to remember whether I?m supposed to be ordering a Blizzard® (DQ®), Shiver® (TCBY®), McFlurry® (McDonald?s®), Dazzler? (Haagen Dazs®), Friend-z® (Friendly®?s ) or 31 Below? (Baskin Robbins®).