"Big Apple" trademark issue -- message from Barry Popik

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

My thanks to Barry for sending me the message below, which I now forward to ads-l. We see here the intersection of language and legal matters.

Gerald Cohen

________________________________

From: Barry Popik [mailto:bapopik at aol.com], Sun 6/14/2009:

There's a "Big Apple" trademark question in Sunday's NY Times.

<snip>
...
Barry Popik
Austin, TX
...
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/nyregion/14fyi.html?ref=nyregion
F.Y.I.

By MICHAEL POLLAK <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/michael_pollak/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
Published: June 13, 2009

Everybody's Apple
Q. Does New York City own the rights to the nickname "Big Apple" as a trademark for New York City on merchandise? Can anyone sell a toy yellow cab or a toy N.Y.P.D. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_york_city_police_department/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>  police car or a miniature skyline snow globe and label it Big Apple, or do they have to get city approval or license the name from the city?
A. You don't need permission for "Big Apple" or a skyline, but you do for yellow cabs or New York City police cars that have detailed city markings, to name two examples you mentioned.
"The city owns a variety of common-law and registered trademark rights, but those do not currently include the phrase 'The Big Apple,' " Katherine Winningham, a senior counsel in the city's Law Department, said in an e-mail message. "Insignia and acronyms associated with city agencies" like the Police and Fire Departments and the Taxi and Limousine Commission <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/t/taxi_and_limousine_commission/index.html?inline=nyt-org>  are either trademarks "or are in the process of being registered by the city," she said.
Ms. Winningham added that the city, through NYC & Company, its tourism and marketing agency, has an active licensing program for its agency marks.

                                                                  #   #   #

<snip>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org