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Marketers Barrage Patent Office With Green-Themed Trademarks

  • Ad Age, Wednesday, April 23, 2008 10:30 AM
The Patent and Trademark Office saw a 10% spike in trademark filings with green themes over 2006, according to the law firm Dechert. The top five words used within the green space in 2007 were: green (2,400 approximate occurrences); energy (1,200); clean (900); earth (900) and eco (900).

According to "Trends in Trademarks," filings for new trademarks last year topped 300,000, setting a record buoyed by interest in environmentalism. The previous record was 289,000 filings, set in 2000 during the Internet boom. Many of the me-too filings will not merit protection, writes Glenn Gundersen, chair of Dechert's trademark practice, since trademarks are, by definition, distinctive.

Trademarks with the prefix "eco" doubled, with products ranging from an Eco-Brella to an EcoCoffin. "If all the new eco-branded products ... actually came to market, an Eco Citizen could buy an EcoHouse in EcoTown from an Eco Realtor," notes Gundersen.

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