Cheeseburger II

Yesterday I wrote about the strengths of trademarks, using CHEESEBURGER as an example.  Today I thought it would be fun to see just how many CHEESEBURGER marks there are on the USPTO’s registry and what some of those marks are.   My guess is that there will be several CHEESEBURGER marks for restaurant services that either are on the Supplemental Register or have 2(f) Declarations of Acquired Distinctiveness.

OK, here we go . . . it’s cheeseburger time at the PTO . . .

PTO records that contain the word CHEESEBURGER as part of the mark:

Total PTO records = 105

Live (meaning active) = 45

Of the live applications:

Pending applications = 8

Registered marks = 37

Just the word CHEESEBURGER = 3

Just the word CHEEZBURGER = 2

For restaurant svcs = 14 (2 pending apps and 12 registrations)

For restaurant services with CHEESEBURGER disclaimed = 8

For restaurant services based on 2(f) Declaration = 1 (CHEEBURGER CHEEBURGER)

CHEESEBURGER IN PARADISE registrations = 8 (owned by musician Jimmy Buffett)

CHEESEBURGER IN PARADISE IS A STATE OF MIND = 1 (owned by Cheeseburger in Paradise, Inc. in Hawaii only, pursuant to a Court order)

Most peculiar CHEESEBURGER marks:

I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER for “providing On-Line Forums for the Transmission of Images and Messages among Computer Users concerning Animals and Humor” (this blog was the most popular WordPress blog for a week in May, 2007)

JESUS CHEESEBURGER for “religious books” (this specimen — the only one submitted — appears to be for a different mark, what do you think?)

Indeed, the PTO often is stranger than fiction, and CHEESEBURGER marks are no exception.