Sorry about the lack of post recently but I am just back from New York City. As with most husbands in New York I seemed to spend a lot of time in tourist shops looking at T-shirts with this logo:-
What an amazingly valuable trade mark.
Because it is a registered mark the City of New York can prevent its use (misuse), and also get a royalty payment for every T-shirt, mug etc. sold that carries the logo.
Interestingly it seems that charging royalties for use of the logo on merchandise is a relatively new thing, and that when the logo was first launched in 1976 it was available for use free of charge. This makes sense – the logo was created to prmote New York and not as a revenue generator. However, now the brand is so well known it can do both at once.
Interesting Fact – In researching this article I found out that New York has an official state muffin. It’s apple.
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One has to wonder if filing 3000 trademark oppositions reflects, even partly, love for the city of New York as this article illustrates.
While legally correct and commercially sensible, there is something rather absurd in all of this: that people should express their love or “heart” in official tshirt form only for New York, not for any other city (e.g. SF or Paris), brand (e.g. NC or MS), or concept (e.g. Yoga).
Meanwhile, I’m back from a weekend in Istanbul. Trade mark enforcement there could do with licensing of “I heart IP” tshirts: Intellectual Property or, perhaps thereafter, Istanbul Police.