trademarking "Hon"?!

[Tom Zurinskas]

> http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-12-09/entertainment/bs-ae-hon-trademark-20101209_1_cafe-hon-honfest-denise-whiting  The text is below:

Sorry, Hon, it's trademarked: Cafe owner owns rights to word

Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting owns the rights to Baltimore's favorite term of endearment
December 09, 2010|By Jill Rosen, The Baltimore Sun

Jed Kirschbaum, Baltimore SunDenise Whiting has not only built her life around the fabled Balmer Hon, opening Cafe Hon and founding the city's annual Honfest — she's helped to make the three-letter term of endearment a household word around town.
Now she owns it.
Whiting has officially trademarked the word "Hon." Over the years, she has trademarked almost every play on the word she could think of. Like the words "Cafe Hon" and "Honfest" and "Hon Bar" and "Hontown," the name of her newest Hampden shop. She owns the image of the word captured in an oval, the way it appears on all those bumper stickers. And that's just for starters.
She owns the rights to using "Hon" on napkins, note cards, stationery, calendars and pens. Without her permission, it can't be used on sweatshirts, hats, underwear, ties, shorts — and certainly not boas.
This fall, when the Maryland Transit Administration wanted to incorporate a few beehived and bespectacled Hons into the campaign for its new fare card, the Charm Card, along with the phrase, "Get yours, Hon," the agency had to go through Whiting. She didn't charge them money, but she did insist on approving each individual ad, poster and television commercial.



Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
see truespel.com phonetic spelling













> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Dan Goncharoff
> Subject: Re: trademarking "Hon"?!
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-12-09/entertainment/bs-ae-hon-trademark-20101209_1_cafe-hon-honfest-denise-whiting
>
> On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 10:17 PM, Mark Mandel wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Mark Mandel
> > Subject: trademarking "Hon"?!
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > All I can say is... WTF????*
> >
> > *Mark Mandel*
> >
> > From: *Catherine Duchamp
> >
> >> *Date: *January 3, 2011 13:58:07 PST
> >> *To: *administrator at americandialect.org
> >> *Subject: **Media Query: Baltimore "Hon" controversy*
> >>
> >> The story I'm producing is about the controversy over *trademarking the
> >> word "Hon,"* which is a cherished term of endearment in Baltimore/seen as
> >> a part of the city's identity.
> >>
> >> Thanks in advance for your help- Cathy
> >>
> >> Cathy Duchamp
> >> Reporter, Greater Baltimore beat
> >> WAMU 88.5 FM
> >> wamu.org
> >> duchamp at wamu.org
> >> 443-756-0606
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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