In preparing for my presentation on how Florida’s vote on medical marijuana will affect intellectual property issues within Florida, I got the cliche idea to maybe pass out non-medicated brownies at my presentation. I know.
But, before discounting the idea, I thought about Little Debbie’s “Cosmic Brownies”:
Then, like a true obsessed trademark attorney, I wondered if Little Debbie had a trademark registration as I would not be surprised if “cosmic brownies” might be a term used to brand medicated brownies. Sure enough, after learning that the Little Debbie brand is actually owned by McKee Foods Kingman, Inc., I found the registration for COSMIC for use with brownies and other snacks:
http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76479218&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch
That led me to another awesome discovery – Little Debbie is real! Certain Little Debbie treats are a guilty pleasure of mine. Oatmeal Cream Pies, Christmas Trees, etc – I’ll eat em. So, learning that this childhood hero is real, well, it was a good day.
How did I find out she is real? No, I didn’t simply read the Little Debbie website. It was this little statement in some of the USPTO records for registrations for “LITTLE DEBBIE”: “Little Debbie” identifies Debbie McKee-Fowler, a living individual whose consent is of record. The portrait or likeness shown in the mark identifies Debbie McKee-Fowler, a living individual whose consent to register is made of record.”
As I blogged HERE, if a mark identifies a living individual, consent must be granted to use the name or likeness of that individual before a registration will issue.
Here’s how “Little Debbie” looks now:
See also: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/16/real-life-little-debbie_n_7597256.html
Pretty cool!
Florida IP Trends 