The Aunt Jemima brand, acknowledging its racist past, will be retired

submitted by Nemacolin from edition.cnn.com

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[–]Erasmus 10 insightful - 3 fun10 insightful - 2 fun11 insightful - 3 fun -  (3 children)

First the Land O' Lakes butter maiden, now this...

It will be interesting to see who seizes these trademarks if they really are abandoned:

According to 15 USC 1127, a trademark is considered abandoned if “its use has been discontinued with intent not to resume such use.” The intent not to resume may be inferred from circumstances. Trademark abandonment, therefore, requires two elements: nonuse; and intent not to resume use.

Nonuse of a mark for three consecutive years creates a legal presumption that the mark has been abandoned.

So, in three years, they're either going to have to testify that they do, indeed, intend to resume use of it, or someone else is going to get it. Aunt Jemima will never die.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

That trademark detail is interesting. I wonder what other expired brands are currently available.

[–]Erasmus 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

There's a lot of abandoned trademark hunters out there. Maybe the most well-known is the fellow who brought back Hydrox cookies.

If you think of a trademark from your past and want to know if it's abandoned, you can search the Trademark Electronic Search System here: https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/searching-trademarks/using-trademark-electronic-search-system