Allen Newman wrote:
>> Trademarks must remain in use to remain legally protected, so I'm
>> curious where and how Qwest ("my" Baby Bell) uses the Bell logo, if at
>> all. In most cases Qwest has eliminated it since merging with US
>> West. You can still make out the shadow of a Bell logo removed from
>> the wall of a Qwest building in Ankeny, Iowa, for example.
>> Last night on the way to a wedding reception I saw a Bell logo that
>> Qwest hasn't gotten rid of: a wooden pay phone kiosk inside the south
>> entrance of the Sioux Falls VFW Lounge still has a Bell sign on top,
>> with the blue Bell logo to the left of the word "phone". Except for
>> Qwest signs tacked to the sides of the kiosk it looked a couple
>> decades old. Does Qwest affixing new signs without taking down the
>> Bell sign count as current use for trademark purposes? It seems
>> better than the example Qwest filed with the USPTO in 2003, which was
>> a couple photos of a US West payphone kiosk, which didn't even have
>> the Qwest identity.
>> Even without the logo, Qwest does try to connect less obviously to the
>> Bell identity. Its Dex phone book is still blue and gold, the Qwest
>> logotype is in the Gill Sans font which has also been the corporate
>> font of AT&T (although the Bell System used Helvetica), and their
>> current slogan is "Spirit of Service", a long-time Bell System motto.
>> Arguably, Qwest's blue swoosh logo echos the circular blue Bell logo
>> -- or would, at least, clash with it if the Bell logo were also >> present.
>> Has anyone ever seen an example of Qwest intentionally adding the Bell
>> logo to anything anywhere? I wonder what they'll come up with when
>> their next trademark filing is due.
>> The other RBOCs have filed their own claims of Bell logo usage:
>> In 2002, SBC submitted a photo of a white service truck with blue and
>> gold stripes and Southwestern Bell Telephone markings. Do their
>> trucks still look like that? It's about as convincing as Qwest's US
>> West phone booth. It'll be interesting to learn what SBC does with
>> branding after their purchase of AT&T.
>> Also in 2002, Verizon submitted photos of new Verizon service trucks
>> and pay phones featuring the Bell logo. IMO Verizon has cleverly
>> dealt with the Bell logo "problem", that is, keeping it alive and
>> meaningful but not letting it compete with their own created identity.
>> Finally, both of the Baby Bells that don't use the Bell logo
>> themselves license Bell names and logos to equipment manufacturers.
>> Qwest licenses Northwestern Bell to Unical and SBC licenses
>> Southwestern Bell to Conair. This despite Northwestern Bell and
>> Southwestern Bell no longer being names Qwest or SBC use themselves,
>> and the fact that while Qwest and SBC sell phone equipment on their
>> websites, it's not their licensed Bell-branded equipment.
>> Bell logo trademark registrations can be found by searching for design
>> code 220324 260101 at the USPTO.
> I believe that all their old names such as Northwestern Bell Telephone
> are still registered with the states in which they served as well as the
> US Copyright office.
> I know that GTE is in California is still listed. And that was a
> non-Bell before the merger.
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> (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co.
For example:
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