Obama Trademarks

Here is some interesting trivia. The "O" design used by the Obama campaign is actually a registered trademark. The New York Times did an interesting interview with the designer that you can read here. The application was filed in May of 2007, but, not surprisingly, did not register until December 2008. Well, he didn't have the registration for the election, but the USPTO did come through in time for the inauguration. :->

As was to be expected, there continues to be an onslaught of people trying to register Obama formative and Obama comprised trademarks. By my count, since the first of such applications was filed in November 2006, there have been 84 applications filed for Obama marks of which 13 have already died and I suspect that most of the others will likely have a similar fate. Most of these applications will be rejected without the President's consent. Under §2(c) of the Trademark Act, in order to register a trademark that contains the name, portrait or signature of a living person, you must obtain their consent. For the record, there are one or two I suspect may obtain such consent (e.g., one filed by the Presidential Inaugural Committee).

Here are some of the more amusing attempts so far:

OBAMA BALM

OBAMA BAHAMA PAJAMAS

OBAMA VODKA

BUSH ROBBED MY MAMA SO I VOTED FOR OBAMA

OBAMA JAVA VICTORY BLEND

BROCCOLI OBAMA

WHO'S YO'BAMA NOW? (for t-shirts, etc.)

and my personal favorite

OB-LA-DI OB-LA-DA O-BA-MA