Dunkin’ Donuts wants to leave a doughnut-sized hole in its name; Washington Post, August 4, 2017

Andrew deGrandpre, Washington Post; Dunkin’ Donuts wants to leave a doughnut-sized hole in its name

"Today, Dunkin’ Donuts is locked in a nationwide popularity contest with Starbucks and independent coffeehouses, aggressively competing for the loyalty of an increasingly calorie-conscious customer base concerned with staying fit, not just caffeinated. Doughnuts — while delicious — connote neither.

To that end, the Massachusetts-based chain is deploying a new marketing strategy. Its first vestiges appeared this week in Pasadena, Calif., where a new Dunkin’ Donuts storefront emerged bearing a new name and slogan:

Dunkin’. Coffee and more.

Eighty-six the doughnuts! (Or, rather, “Donuts.”)

The branding experiment in Pasadena marks the start of a trial period during which the company will gauge customer response and evaluate whether to take the new name nationwide. The review is expected to stretch well into next year, the company said."

Remarks by Director Michelle K. Lee to Commemorate World IP Day 2017; U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, April 26, 2017

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office; Remarks by Director Michelle K. Lee to Commemorate World IP Day 2017

"Remarks by Director Michelle K. Lee to Commemorate World IP Day 2017

For more than two centuries, the United States of America has promoted and protected intellectual property rights. In the process, we have made revolutionary advances in science and technology. We have become a global leader in innovation, and we have helped create a strong IP system throughout the world. The USPTO is committed to continue working with the IP offices of the world to ensure that all of our IP systems continue to foster innovation.

The theme of this year’s World IP Day—improving lives through innovation—could not be more relevant. We have seen the profound impact that good ideas, protected through a world-class IP system, can have on humanity. From new and powerful technology that we can wear on our wrists and carry in our pockets, to new methods of diagnosing and treating disease, intellectual property can not only improve lives, it can save lives. It can also create new jobs and grow our economy, which is why we must always ensure that our IP system supports small businesses, startups, and individual inventors. Rewarding new ideas with IP rights guarantees that new improvements keep coming. In fact one of you may hold the next idea that could shape our lives for years to come.

So, please, get out there and invent and create. And don’t forget to protect your great ideas. Thank you for being a part of World IP Day!"

Michael James Delligatti, Creator of the Big Mac, Dies at 98; New York Times, 11/30/16

Kevin Rawlinson, New York Times; Michael James Delligatti, Creator of the Big Mac, Dies at 98:

"Most memorable was the ad campaign, begun in 1974, in which actual customers tried to recite the ingredients in a Big Mac, with comic results, before a chorus jumped in and smoothly sang the now-famous jingle.

“It wasn’t like discovering the light bulb,” Mr. Delligatti told John F. Love, the author of “McDonald’s: Behind the Arches” (1986). “The bulb was already there. All I did was screw it in the socket.”...

...[T]he sales remain huge, leading many to believe that Mr. Delligatti, as its inventor, must have reaped a windfall worth billions.

Not so. “All I got was a plaque,” he told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2007."

Milton Glaser Still Hearts New York; New York Times, 7/29/16

John Leland, New York Times; Milton Glaser Still Hearts New York:

"The original scrap of paper is now in the Museum of Modern Art. The logo, for which he received a $2,000 fee — less than the cost of producing the mock-ups, he said — now generates more that $1 million annually for the state in licensing fees, and keeps a bevy of state lawyers busy writing cease-and-desist letters for its unlicensed use...

Mr. Glaser’s touch has not always been so golden. When he tried to recapture the magic for the State of Rhode Island this year with the slogan “Warmer and Cooler,” people complained that the design was trite and overreaching, ultimately forcing the state’s chief marketing officer to resign.

“There was an explosion of negativity on the internet,” Mr. Glaser said, still marveling at the depth of the rancor."

11 THINGS DC COMICS TAUGHT US ABOUT KFC'S MULTIDIMENSIONAL COLONEL SANDERS; Comic Book Resources, 7/5/16

Meagan Damore, Comic Book Resources; 11 THINGS DC COMICS TAUGHT US ABOUT KFC'S MULTIDIMENSIONAL COLONEL SANDERS:

[Kip Currier: Colonel Sanders' Original Recipe of 11 herbs and spices, owned by KFC, is probably the 2nd most famous trade secret in the world. The zany--and props-for-creativity--free comic "KFC: The Colonel Corps" has the villainous Colonel Sunder scheming to pluck the perennially sought-after secret recipe from Colonel Sanders' control to leverage it for...wait for it...WORLD-WIDE RESTAURANT DOMINION. Cue mustache...err, goatee twirl.]

""KFC: The Colonel Corps" -- available for free on comiXology -- pits Earth-1's Colonel Sanders against an old foe: Colonel Sunder, our fast food hero's evil doppelganger from Earth-3. Colonel Sanders first encountered him in "The Colonel of Two Worlds" special, and -- in "The Colonel Corps" -- Sunder is back to his evil ways: he wants to steal Sanders' recipe and take the easy way out in conquering the restaurant business, instead of putting hard work into becoming number one. In order to overcome Sunder, Sanders teams up with his doppelgangers from across the multiverse to put an end to Sunder's plans once and for all.

It's every bit as ridiculous as it sounds, and twice as fun."

McDonald's Wants to Trademark a 'Simple' New Slogan; Fortune, 3/25/16

Phil Wahba, Fortune; McDonald's Wants to Trademark a 'Simple' New Slogan:

"The hamburger chain, whose U.S. sales are recovering after years of declines, has filed to register a trademark for the slogan “The Simpler the Better,” a phrase that would echo its recent efforts to streamline its menu to speed up service—long a problem for the company—and tame its bureaucracy.

McDonald’s submitted the application to the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office earlier this month.

The filing doesn’t mean the burger chain will actually use the slogan. A company spokesperson told BurgerBusiness.com, which first reported on this filing, “We routinely file intent-to-use trademark applications as part of our regular course of business. We can’t share details at this time as to how this trademark may or may not be used.” (McDonald’s has trademarked terms such as “McBrunch” without ever using them.)"

On the Hobbit trail in New Zealand; Guardian, 11/16/12

Rebecca Nicholson, Guardian; On the Hobbit trail in New Zealand: "People involved with Middle Earth-related tours talk wearily of copyright back-and-forths with the Tolkien estate and with New Line Cinema; it was, initially, hard for them to market anything local as an official Lord of the Rings experience. There's very much a sense that the tourism which followed the films' release took all parties by surprise, and they're preparing for it properly this time."

"Finger Lickin' Good" Trade Secret's Security Revamped - Yahoo News, 9/9/08

Trade secret is one of the four categories of Intellectual Property (the other three are Patent, Trademark, and Copyright). This KFC story provides an excellent example of a trade secret, underscoring the lengths to which corporations will go to avoid disclosure of a secret, in order to ensure continuing legal protection and competitive advantage.

KFC shoring up security for secret recipe: "Colonel Harland Sanders' handwritten recipe of 11 herbs and spices was to be removed Tuesday from safekeeping at KFC's corporate offices for the first time in decades. The temporary relocation is allowing KFC to revamp security around a yellowing sheet of paper that contains one of the country's most famous corporate secrets...

I don't want to be the president who loses the recipe," KFC President Roger Eaton said. "Imagine how terrifying that would be...

The biggest prize, though, is a single sheet of notebook paper, yellowed by age, that lays out the entire formula — including exact amounts for each ingredient — written in pencil and signed by Sanders."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080909/ap_on_bi_ge/kfc_secret