Trademark

This may be old news, but I just noticed on the CP website that MF is now officially trademarked. Good for them :)

Cedar Point actually had the word Millennium trademarked a few years ago. This prevented any other amusement park from using the word Millennium for any new rides.

-------------
Neil
Pittsburgh, PA
MF Count 14 :)

Really? That is very interesting! Talk about stopping the competition before it even gets started!

-------------
"Your obssesed w/ that place aren't you?" (as stated by my best-friends about CP)

Strangely enough, they still haven't completed the registration on "millennium" as it relates to coasters, but they have filed for several extensions as their lawyers try to figure out how to trademark such a vague term:

http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=75355726

"Millennium Force" and the "M" logo were only filed in January, so they probably won't get their circle-R until the end of the year.

-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 27

Well since someone deleted my previous post, What does the circled R mean

-------------
Millennium Force Rids:1
Magnum XL-200 Drop:3

It means Registered Trade Mark.


-------------
Mantis How Much Can You Stand?

So basically, even though the health drink Millennium Force has some kind of trademark, it isn't valid on a roller coaster because it is completely different? I am not well-versed in trademark laws, ect.

Yes... you can trademark different things, and the drink obviously has nothing to do with the roller coaster. However, one of the things that Cedar Point is trying to trademark is the merchandise (shirts, key chains, etc.). That would effectively stop the drink maker to produce that kind of merchandise.

As a matter of fact, while I do business as "POP World Media(TM)," a company in the UK does business as PopWorld Ltd. I build web sites, they do pop music promotion (and paid handsomely for my old domain name, popworld.com).

-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 27

Jeff, looks like you can get your old domain back because popworld.com doesn't exist. :-)

-----------------------------------
America's Roller Coast
www.millenniumfpics.homestead.com

No, it exists, they just haven't launched their new site yet. Besides, they indirectly paid off my car, credit cards, paid for my wedding and gave me a nice down payment for a house. ;)

-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 29

That's a lot of money. So, what is your new URL? Never mind, we are way off the topic now. So, anyway, yes there is a trademark now. It will soon be registered. That's all for this thread.

-----------------------------------
America's Roller Coast
www.millenniumfpics.homestead.com

Muh Gawd!!!! seriously though, do you mind sharing how much they actually paid you. I heard from a teacher a man bought a domian for 50 dollars and got big bucks/

-------------
Millennium Force Rids:1
Magnum XL-200 Drop:3

When I go to the official site, I get somewhat annoyed by "&trade" beside Millennium Force. I'm okay with the R in the circle, but not the other one.

You might be looking at an older browser or something, because "&trade" should appear as ™.

-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 29

It could be a font thing, as well.

I just noticed that on the official web site, there IS, in fact, a registered trademark (the 'r' in a circle) sign after the Millennium Force name. Is that different from a TM? I'm all confused.

If there is, they shouldn't be using it. According to the USPTO database, their registered trademark hasn't been approved yet.

Anyone can place a TM after a mark that they're using as something that uniquely identifies the product (i.e., Guide to The Point(TM) or CoasterBuzz(TM)). This is a perfectly legal way to protect your brand name.

The circle-R can only be used if you successfully register your trademark. It's not required, but it makes it a lot easier to defend your trademark.

-------------
Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 29
*** This post was edited by Jeff on 6/19/2000. ***

This assumes that the public database is up-to-date, which isn't necessarily the case.