November 27, 2015
That (Black) Friday Feeling
That (Black) Friday Feeling
The time is upon us again where people embark on a bid to bag a bargain. Black Friday is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon and proving big business for brands. A quick look at some of the trade mark registers show some interesting activity:
  • savvy owners ahead of the curve in Australia and China have secured retail service registrations for the words BLACK FRIDAY, taking the risk in the process of being cancelled for being non-distinctive or becoming generic (a recently added ground in China) down the line;
  • parties who have used and registered the term with an intended different meaning for non-retail items (e.g. beer) face the prospect of having their brand message interfered with by its global ubiquity with retail sales; and
  • brands may wish to consider defensive filings for brand + BLACK FRIDAY in first-to-file territories like China, where Amazon have AMAZON BLACK FRIDAY registered.
Turning to the online world, brand owners are yet to embrace the .blackfriday new gTLD, with Apple, Google and Walmart all owning but not actively using the suffix. New gTLDs are still very much in their infancy, but we see events such as today as an opportunity to educate consumers of their existence and allow brand owners to use short and snappy, forward slash-free URLs. Stobbs have a great deal of experience in all things brand, including trade marks, domain names and online brand enforcement. Feel free to drop us a line.
Tags
Online Brand Enforcement /  Trademarks /  Domains /  Tech

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