Thursday, August 12, 2010
EBV on CNN
Here is a link to a wonderful story today on our Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities program that has appeared on CNN and HLN(Headline News): http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2010/08/12/n_veterans_ebv.cnnmoney/
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Cost of Starting Up
One more item...On August 1 I was quoted in the Wall Street Journal. During the week previous I had the chance to have a very nice conversation with Sarah Needleman from the WSJ on the topic of start-up costs. Here is the link to the entire story: Becoming the Boss Can Cost Plenty.
Trademarks and the Entrepreneur
Students and entrepreneurs usually have questions on trademarks, IP, etc. as it relates to their start-up venture. Because this area is a place where a specialist is required, I always refer those questions to an attorney. However, two days ago one of my favorite blogs had a great piece on the proper use of trademarks, so I thought it would made sense to mention it here. IP Law for Startups by Jill Hubbard Bowman is a great blog post for entrepreneurs to read…here is the post on trademarks Protect Your Brand: The Proper Use of Trademarks:
I know that proper use of trademarks and service marks gets confusing for many entrepreneurs. The following is a simple and handy guide on the proper use of the marks in your business. It’s important to review your website and marketing material and make sure that you are preserving potential legal protection for your marks.
Trademarks and service marks are essentially brand names. A mark identifies and distinguishes products or services of one company from the products or services of others.
Trademarks identify goods. Service marks identify services. In contrast, a trade name is a name that identifies a business.
Confusingly, sometimes the same name may be a trade name, a trademark and a service mark. GOOGLE is a trade name, a registered trademark for mugs, bags and t-shirts, and a registered service mark for search engine services.
A critical issue is that improper use of a mark may cause the loss of legal protection.
A federal registration may be denied because the owner used the mark in a generic way to describe its goods or services. Moreover, a court or the PTO may determine that even a registered mark has become generic and therefore free for all to use. Once upon a time, aspirin, escalator, and cellophane were all trademarks. Eventually, the names began to represent the goods rather than the source of the goods and trademark protection was lost.
Improper descriptive use by the trademark owner in advertising or other materials is a factor in deciding whether the name will get legal protection. Widespread use of the mark as the common name for similar goods or services may ultimately allow free use of the mark, even by competitors.
A key issue is whether the public understands whether the name is a common name or a brand name.
If the public thinks the name is the common name—like aspirin—then the law will not protect the mark from competitive use. But if the public thinks the name is a brand name, trademark status may be preserved.
Proper Use of a Trademark or Service Mark
1. Use the mark with a generic term
To preserve legal protection for a brand name, the mark should be used in conjunction with a generic term, like using the mark Kleenex with tissue. Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. is very careful to write: Kleenex tissue or Kleenex brand tissue. If you use the common name in conjunction with your brand name it is far less likely that your brand will become the common name. Your brand will be seen as separate and distinct from the common name.
Remember, generic or descriptive names do not have trademark protection upon initial use. Generic names may never be a trademark. Descriptive names may only receive trademark protection after they become famous for identifying the goods as coming from a single source.
2. Use the mark as an Adjective NOT a noun or verb
Use the mark to modify the generic term for the goods instead of describing the goods. This point is similar to the previous one. An example is Google search services. Google needs to be careful that google doesn’t cross the line into becoming the common noun and verb for using any search engine.
Also, don’t use the mark as a possessive or plural.
3. Make the mark look distinctive
To preserve protection, it is good practice to make the mark look distinctive.
Good ways to distinguish a mark include:
Capitalizing the mark;
using color; or
using stylized lettering or a special font.
4. Use the TM or SM symbols
When you initially claim use of a mark as a brand name, after the mark you can use the TM symbol for goods and SM for services. You don’t need to wait until you have filed a registration.
After receiving a federal registration, you can use the ® symbol.
With a little bit of care, you can preserve the value of your trademarks and service marks.
For related posts on Trademark Law:
How to Avoid Trademark Infringement When Selecting Business or Product Names
Consider Whether You Can or Want to File a Federal Trademark Registration
I know that proper use of trademarks and service marks gets confusing for many entrepreneurs. The following is a simple and handy guide on the proper use of the marks in your business. It’s important to review your website and marketing material and make sure that you are preserving potential legal protection for your marks.
Trademarks and service marks are essentially brand names. A mark identifies and distinguishes products or services of one company from the products or services of others.
Trademarks identify goods. Service marks identify services. In contrast, a trade name is a name that identifies a business.
Confusingly, sometimes the same name may be a trade name, a trademark and a service mark. GOOGLE is a trade name, a registered trademark for mugs, bags and t-shirts, and a registered service mark for search engine services.
A critical issue is that improper use of a mark may cause the loss of legal protection.
A federal registration may be denied because the owner used the mark in a generic way to describe its goods or services. Moreover, a court or the PTO may determine that even a registered mark has become generic and therefore free for all to use. Once upon a time, aspirin, escalator, and cellophane were all trademarks. Eventually, the names began to represent the goods rather than the source of the goods and trademark protection was lost.
Improper descriptive use by the trademark owner in advertising or other materials is a factor in deciding whether the name will get legal protection. Widespread use of the mark as the common name for similar goods or services may ultimately allow free use of the mark, even by competitors.
A key issue is whether the public understands whether the name is a common name or a brand name.
If the public thinks the name is the common name—like aspirin—then the law will not protect the mark from competitive use. But if the public thinks the name is a brand name, trademark status may be preserved.
Proper Use of a Trademark or Service Mark
1. Use the mark with a generic term
To preserve legal protection for a brand name, the mark should be used in conjunction with a generic term, like using the mark Kleenex with tissue. Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. is very careful to write: Kleenex tissue or Kleenex brand tissue. If you use the common name in conjunction with your brand name it is far less likely that your brand will become the common name. Your brand will be seen as separate and distinct from the common name.
Remember, generic or descriptive names do not have trademark protection upon initial use. Generic names may never be a trademark. Descriptive names may only receive trademark protection after they become famous for identifying the goods as coming from a single source.
2. Use the mark as an Adjective NOT a noun or verb
Use the mark to modify the generic term for the goods instead of describing the goods. This point is similar to the previous one. An example is Google search services. Google needs to be careful that google doesn’t cross the line into becoming the common noun and verb for using any search engine.
Also, don’t use the mark as a possessive or plural.
3. Make the mark look distinctive
To preserve protection, it is good practice to make the mark look distinctive.
Good ways to distinguish a mark include:
Capitalizing the mark;
using color; or
using stylized lettering or a special font.
4. Use the TM or SM symbols
When you initially claim use of a mark as a brand name, after the mark you can use the TM symbol for goods and SM for services. You don’t need to wait until you have filed a registration.
After receiving a federal registration, you can use the ® symbol.
With a little bit of care, you can preserve the value of your trademarks and service marks.
For related posts on Trademark Law:
How to Avoid Trademark Infringement When Selecting Business or Product Names
Consider Whether You Can or Want to File a Federal Trademark Registration
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Restitching a Firm
I was talking last week with Neale Godfrey, the chairman of the Children’s Financial Network at our Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities program. Neale was a guest speaker, and she asked me a great question right before she went into the classroom to talk to the vet’s. She asked, “Do you tell the vet’s the whole story about entrepreneurship”…meaning are we sharing with them stories of success, as well as failure. As it turns out, we do tell the vet’s as well as our undergrad and graduate students the whole story, but an article in the Wall Street Journal today Restitching a Firm That Nearly Unraveled, brings home Neale’s point…that entrepreneurship is more than just success, but it can also be filled with road bumps(and more) along the way. Read the article by Julie Jargon about, J.W. Hulme Co., a Minnesota luggage maker that almost went bankrupt but is now on the way back.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Tesla and Digital Media...Two Entrepreneurship Stories from the NY Times
Today’s business section in the NY Times carried several interesting articles on entrepreneurship. Two in particular that caught my eye were All Revved Up, but So Far to Go written by Claire Cain Miller about Elon Musk and his efforts at Tesla Motors. I also liked the article by Brooks Barnes, In Hollywood, Everyone’s a Digital Revolutionary. While the article was focused on the digital entertainment space, it was clear that the lessons learned in digital entertainment really can be applicable to other areas of entrepreneurship as well. For example, take this sentence: “But an awful lot of the companies angling for a piece of the action are long on goals and short on specifics.” That could certainly apply to any start-up business. Or how about this: “Remember SulSet.com, the behind-the-scenes subscription movie site? Oops: it quickly ran into problems with the Screen Actors Guild, which objected that the cast was not getting a cut of the proceeds. To resolve that, it had to start giving free access to the site, upending its business plan.” Business plan’s upended? Can happen anywhere. Or take the last sentence in the article: “Where the market stands today there are more digital opportunities than ever,” he (Brent Weinstein, head of digital media for United Talent Agency) said. “Those that will be successful are the ones who understand the unique aspects of the platform and the audience.” That could be re-written (with apologies to Mr. Weinstein for borrowing his quote) to say that based on where the business world is today, there will be more opportunities than ever. Those entrepreneurs that will be successful are the ones who see the need in the marketplace and can create a unique product/service to fill that need, mindful that it is all about serving the eventual customer.
Four Trends in Social Entrepreneurship
Because I work in the academic world but because I came out of the business one, I like to think in terms of customers....or who is my primary customer? For me, our students are the primary customers for the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship…and currently our students are thinking about social entrepreneurship in a big way. We see that in the business plans that get submitted for our Capstone Business Plan Class and Competition, and in the ideas that students come into my office to talk about. So it is with great interest that I read on Just Means, Marcia Stepanek’s summary of the report. Echoing Green is a New York-based social enterprise investment nonprofit.
* Many social entrepreneurs want to tackle the world's most difficult problems early in their career. About 55 percent, or slightly more than half, of some 1,200 semifinalists for Echoing Green fellowships in social entrepreneurship since 2007 have identified themselves as being younger than 35.
* Social entrepreneurs are blurring the lines between the nonprofit and for-profit experience and are often "serial entrepreneurs." There was a 15 percent decrease over 2008 in the number of Echoing Green semifinalists who have worked in the nonprofit and government sectors. Thirty-seven percent of the 300 semifinalists this year have founded another organization and 71 percent of those organizations are still in existence.
* Social entrepreneurs are on the forefront of the trend to build for-profit/nonprofit social enterprises. This year, more than 37 percent of the 300 Echoing Green semifinalists structured their new ventures as hybrid organizations -- nonprofit/for-profit enterprises aimed at simultaneously fulfilling public duties and developing commercial markets for their activities. That's up 20 percent over 2007. Meanwhile, also since 2007, the total number of semifinalists structuring their organizations as nonprofits decreased by nearly 20 percent.
* Many social entrepreneurs are compelled to create social enterprises because of their personal experiences. Almost 40 percent of Echoing Green semifinalists since 2007 identify themselves as members of the communities they plan to serve.
* Many social entrepreneurs want to tackle the world's most difficult problems early in their career. About 55 percent, or slightly more than half, of some 1,200 semifinalists for Echoing Green fellowships in social entrepreneurship since 2007 have identified themselves as being younger than 35.
* Social entrepreneurs are blurring the lines between the nonprofit and for-profit experience and are often "serial entrepreneurs." There was a 15 percent decrease over 2008 in the number of Echoing Green semifinalists who have worked in the nonprofit and government sectors. Thirty-seven percent of the 300 semifinalists this year have founded another organization and 71 percent of those organizations are still in existence.
* Social entrepreneurs are on the forefront of the trend to build for-profit/nonprofit social enterprises. This year, more than 37 percent of the 300 Echoing Green semifinalists structured their new ventures as hybrid organizations -- nonprofit/for-profit enterprises aimed at simultaneously fulfilling public duties and developing commercial markets for their activities. That's up 20 percent over 2007. Meanwhile, also since 2007, the total number of semifinalists structuring their organizations as nonprofits decreased by nearly 20 percent.
* Many social entrepreneurs are compelled to create social enterprises because of their personal experiences. Almost 40 percent of Echoing Green semifinalists since 2007 identify themselves as members of the communities they plan to serve.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Business Schools Reach Out to Military Veterans
As we get ready to kick-off the Syracuse University Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities program this Saturday, it was great to see Geoff Gloeckler’s article in Business Week, B-Schools Reach Out to Veterans. I particularly liked the paragraph that wrapped up the article because it was absolutely right on target:
The business schools say they benefit from the programs as much as the veterans. “It’s a privilege to work with disabled American veterans for the third year,” says Judy Olian, dean of UCLA Anderson, according to a press release from the Anderson School. “UCLA Anderson’s expertise in entrepreneurship is a way for us to provide resources to veterans who have sacrificed so much on behalf of the nation and who want to realize their own business dreams and desires to support their families and communities.
As Dean Olian said…it is our privilege to work with these fantastic vets in this outstanding program.
The business schools say they benefit from the programs as much as the veterans. “It’s a privilege to work with disabled American veterans for the third year,” says Judy Olian, dean of UCLA Anderson, according to a press release from the Anderson School. “UCLA Anderson’s expertise in entrepreneurship is a way for us to provide resources to veterans who have sacrificed so much on behalf of the nation and who want to realize their own business dreams and desires to support their families and communities.
As Dean Olian said…it is our privilege to work with these fantastic vets in this outstanding program.
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