Trademarks Resolving Infringement

Problem: Salisbury Glass Company had been using the mascot "Mr. Goodglass" for ten years without realizing that it infringed the well known trademark "Mr. Goodwrench."  Both companies were in the auto repair business, so the names overlapped in the same goods and services classification. A cease and desist order from General Motors legal department sent the owner to MINT Design, but threatened the loss of a million dollars of advertising equity developed over the last ten years.

Approach:  A name needed to be created that Salisbury Glass company could register as a service mark and own as URLs, but without sacrificing market equity from ten years of advertising. By simply dropping the "od" from "Goodglass," Mr. Go-Glass was created, offering retention of equity, an exclusive trademark, a unique URL family, and the key benefit embodied in the name, GO standing for "Fast" auto glass repair.

Result: In the following four years time, Mr. Go-Glass became the corporate name, the company expanded from 2 two eight stores, was recognized by the National Glass Association as the best new Brand in the industry, and the owner, (now retired in Florida) sat on the NGA board for the next five years.  ( See Testimonials )

Internet infringement is profuse:

Problem: When the name MINT Design was originally coined for our company in 1990, there were no other MINTdesigns in the world. Being in the business, we established the company, and then registered the name with the USPTO as an active trademark, where it is still registered and active today. In the pre-web era, we didn't anticipate the relationship between trademarks and URLs.  Around ten years later, companies using that name started popping up all over the world, since we didn't foresee the need, in 1995, to own a URL name set.  Since then, still more small-time copycats  in the US emerged.  What we find astonishing is that these companies are supposedly specializing in branding and original graphic design, and yet they are willing to betray their very reason for being, naming their own companies with a knocked off name.

Approach: Until we knew the disadvantage of name farming to SEO, we intended to open a full array of websites using a new family of names, all bearing the mint brand, but with no particular new distinction. Since then a better solution has been secured. We coined the wordmark "Mintensity," (standing for "Intense, Original Branding," which allows us to market from the equity developed over 25 years of brand usage, but adds to that the originality, uniqueness, URL propriety ,and distinct, inbound marketing advantage in the new name extension and trademark.

Result: Currently in progress, pending a range of implementation factors, the name MINTENSITY secures ownership on all levels, having been used in interstate commerce, appearing in social media,  all  associated URLs owned exclusively by MINTdesign.