That's right. You read it correctly. According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Thanksgiving is listed as dead. Officially, it is listed as having died three days before Christmas in 1988. On December 22, 1998, the THANKSGIVING trademark officially died after Alterman Foods, Inc. had failed to file a Section 8 affidavit continuing the mark. The mark was registered for Cooked Fruits, Cooked Vegetables, Hamburger Patties, Ground Pepper and Tea and, according to its owner, had been in use since September 1912. So the rest of it I can understand, but hamburger patties? Please let me know if you or anyone you know has a tradition of eating hamburger patties at Thanksgiving. I'm not offended, just curious.
On a more upbeat note, however, I am happy to report, that THANKSGIVING has been given new life by Hidden Wineries, Inc. who recently applied for the mark in August of this year for one of my favorite beverages: wine.
You'll also be glad to know that Macy's THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE is alive and well on the USPTO trademark roster, although with a claimed date of first use dataing back to 1924, I was surprised to see that it was only recently registered in 1998.
Finally, of all things, HAPPY THANKSGIVING is currently registered to Mattel. Go figure. Fortunately, it is only registered for toys and not bloging services. So hopefully Mattel will not be offended if I wish you all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
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Well if the US PTO says it's dead, I guess it's really dead. I tell my wife to throw out the Turkey and take the extra leaf out of the dining room table. All I can say is I hope Christmas has a good lawyer or its going to be a long winter. (I wonder if they have a witness protection program for national holidays?)
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