{"id":4275,"date":"2009-03-18T08:25:59","date_gmt":"2009-03-18T13:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=4275"},"modified":"2009-03-18T08:27:02","modified_gmt":"2009-03-18T13:27:02","slug":"the-new-wisconsin-logo-live-like-you-mean-it-and-its-ealry-criticism-much-ado-about-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2009\/03\/the-new-wisconsin-logo-live-like-you-mean-it-and-its-ealry-criticism-much-ado-about-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Wisconsin Logo “Live Like You Mean It” and Its Early Criticism: Much Ado About Nothing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Newspapers, web sites, and blogs are all talking these days about the newly launched Wisconsin slogan (“Live Like You Mean It”) that will replace the slogan “Life’s So Good” in promoting Wisconsin as a tourism and business destination. In the words of Governor Doyle, “This is another tool we’ll use to keep loyal visitors coming back, communicate why a business should relocate or expand here, and let talented employees know why they should choose Wisconsin.” Even if it is certainly “catchy,” the new slogan has already attracted a fair amount of criticism, primarily because it is not so “new” as we may think.<\/p>\n

Instead, as Ryan Foley from Associated Press reports<\/a>, “motivational speakers, authors and even wine and spirit maker Bacardi have already used the phrase in marketing campaigns,” and an Internet search can easily shows several other uses of the same slogan with respect to different already existing products or services. As a result, the State could face a lawsuit for trademark infringement, should its use of the “new” logo provoke confusion among consumers with any of the preexisting products or services that already carry the same slogan to identify them.<\/p>\n

Still, the State is applying for a trademark registration for the slogan at the U.S.\u00a0Patent and Trademark Office<\/a>, and the state’s brand manager has assured that “[w]e have certainly done our due diligence to be sure that we could use this [slogan].” In fact, outside counselors have been hired and proper vetting of the slogan has been performed before its launch (and following criticism).<\/p>\n

Where does this bring us then?\u00a0 Could Wisconsin seriously face a lawsuit for trademark infringement because ot the use of the slogan “Live Like You Mean It”?\u00a0Like my UW-Madison I.P. colleague Anuj Desai, I also doubt that the state would have legal problems, and I would tend to exclude any likelihood of consumer confusion between the Wisconsin products and services carrying the new logo and slogan and the preexisting ones. In particular, the reason for this position is that consumers\u00a0are unlikely to\u00a0be confused as to the origin of products carrying the combination of the word “Wisconsin” with the slogan in question. If that is the case, i.e., if all products and services carrying the new mark will always carry the these combination of words, a likelihood of consumer confusion, and accordingly trademark infringement, can be excluded. I would also go so\u00a0far as to exclude any liability for\u00a0likelihood of dilution for the new Wisconsin slogan with preexisting “Live Like You Mean It” marks. For dilution to exist, a preexisting mark has to be famous, and no pre-exisiting mark seem to me famous (the only mark that could have been famous, the one from Bacardi, has been already abandoned by the spirit maker). In addition, either tarnishment or blurring\u00a0of the existing mark needs to exist, and the current facts do not support any of these possibilities with respect with the “new” Wisconsin logo.<\/p>\n

That said, the quarrel remains, and of course criticism will continue. This will unlikely develop, however (and hopefully for Wisconsin), into future lawsuits. What could be seen, on the other side, in the future, is the State of Wisconsin “going after” newer users of a similar or identical slogan!\u00a0 So, good luck Wisconsin, we wish you well with your (our) new logo . . . may we all be able (particulalry now\u00a0that Spring seems to be around the corner)\u00a0to live\u00a0like we\u00a0“mean it!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newspapers, web sites, and blogs are all talking these days about the newly launched Wisconsin slogan (“Live Like You Mean It”) that will replace the slogan “Life’s So Good” in promoting Wisconsin as a tourism and business destination. In the words of Governor Doyle, “This is another tool we’ll use to keep loyal visitors coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intellectual-property-law","category-wisconsin","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}