It's painstaking work, but worth it
Our distinctive logo, the lovable cowboy whom we affectionately call “Cowboy Bob,” is officially registered as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
And wasn’t that a pain in the backside.
Now, don’t get me wrong. The government lawyer with whom I
dealt was professional. The process wasn’t too difficult. The thing is, when
you want to trademark your design, your description of the logo has to be
exact. And I mean EXACT.
When I gave my description of what colors were involved in the making up of Ol’ Bob, I mentioned the white face, the blue eyes, and the goofy red hat. What I failed to mention was the black outline of the whole drawing. Hence, my original application was denied and I had to start the process all over.
Seriously. The black outline. And the reason I knew I failed to mention the black outline was because the government lawyer who rejected my application told me that I didn’t mention the black outline. Seems to me that maybe he could have just thrown that into the description – after all, he had a picture of Bobby to compare to my description.
Anyway, after resubmitting the whole application (and including mention of the black outline), Allico Vending eventually was recognized by the U.S. government as the official trademark holder of the cowboy logo, which, honestly, most of us aren’t too fond of in the first place. I mean, c’mon, the guy is goofy looking. He does do his job though – anyone who sees his happy-go-lucky smile is going to remember it. Which, of course, is the point of having a logo.
And now he is protected by the full power of the government of the United States. So, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to steal our design for yourself. As if you would want to.
-Doug Stephens