Cackle Hatchery Easter Egger Trademark Filing

[24Elsinore]

So this doesn't have to do specifically with local ordinances but it is a legal matter that is in the realm of the forum.

I noticed on Cackle Hatchery's website that they claim to have a trademark on the term "Easter Egger". From the brief, laymen search on the US Patent Office Website, https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4806:84epqp.2.1 this mark was only filed last November. I am not really sure if it is still in process or final, but the website Trademark Elite claims it is "NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION ISSUED -CLARIFICATION NEEDED".

So for any lawyers and legal scholars on the forum, what does this mean and where are they in the process? I searched other hatcheries and they used the term Easter Egger to sell chickens, and I am assuming Easter Egger has been used to describe chickens that lay colored eggs long before last November.

Another question I have is, if Easter Egger has been used for a long time and is in widespread usage, then is there anything we can do to protest the trademark? I have an order coming from Cackle Hatchery and I now sort of regret it because the trademarking of Easter Egger appears like the same legal chicanery patent trolls have used to extract money from people and companies. Or do you think the other hatcheries are already on top of this?

Any thoughts here on this matter? Trademark and patent trolling has been very problematic in the past to where the federal and state governments have tried to stop it, and it shouldn't spread to the world of raising chickens.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I can't imagine that this has gone under the radar of other large hatcheries.
You bring up some interesting questions. It won't affect me but I will be watching.
Cackle is less than a 3 hour drive from me. I've been there but haven't bought from them in a long time and I now maintain a closed flock.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Are you talking about this entry? (your link goes to a timeout screen).

Honestly, I don't know. While I followed some Patent Law when living in TX (East District) as a sometime matter of curiosity, it was just that - curiosity, not the level of comfort, experience and (in one very very very tiny corner of the law) expertise I developed (as a non-Lawyer, damn but they aren't protective of their racket!) in other areas.

Assuming this is successfully marked, I have no doubt other hatcheries will quickly work around it, just as has happened with [x] "Ranger".

Now in other Countries (China is a great example), a local might TM a name being used elsewhere in the world, then punish the company by extracting rents when it tries to move into the Chinese market - the Chinese Gov't seems to encourage such wealth transfers, and its legal systems reflect that. But here in the US, its less of a problem than the Patent trolling has proven to be.

 

[24Elsinore]

Are you talking about this entry? (your link goes to a timeout screen).
View attachment 2654506

Yeah that is the one.

Assuming this is successfully marked, I have no doubt other hatcheries will quickly work around it, just as has happened with [x] "Ranger".

What happened with the Ranger mark? Any reading you can point me towards?

 

[jolenesdad]

Ranger is different. Freedom ranger was never used before the hatchery that trademarked it used it. Freedom Ranger hatchery used to be named something else. They bought that trademark for Freedom Ranger from the original owner and changed the name of their hatchery to reflect that.

I cannot imagine this was not challenged during the approval process. Interesting.

 

[jolenesdad]

Look at all the trademarks they applied for and got.

https://trademarks.justia.com/owners/smith-jeffrey-n-3272570/

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Yeah that is the one.



What happened with the Ranger mark? Any reading you can point me towards?

[x] Ranger became popularized as a name for a free ranging dual purpose bird with good meat development (contra the many DP birds which are mostly layers). Suddenly, there was a proliferation in the market of "Rangers", each company using their own [x]. At this point, I can't even tell you who, or which hatchery, was first; only that "Ranger" has now taken on the community understanding of a common mark, the way "Coke" is synonymous with "Soda" in much of the county.

Red Ranger
Freedom Ranger
Rudd Ranger

etc.

Pick your favorite large hatchery, and keyword search on "Ranger" - they will likely have [something] "Ranger".

(my own, eventually, "Clay Ranger" - maybe I should TM it now? If its still available)

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and thanks for the history lesson, I'm on my first cup of coffee, its full of cobwebs in here.

/edit and follow up to the other comment - many of those proposed marks seem ripe for challenge under the "generic" doctrine. Brown Egger, White Egger, Blue Egger, Green Egger, etc are already used as descriptive groupings by various hatcheries in the trade.

I'm not concerned. At most, I'm curious as to who is giving Jeffrey that legal advice, and why he thinks those efforts will be more valuable than the cost of registering them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Look at all the trademarks they applied for and got.

https://trademarks.justia.com/owners/smith-jeffrey-n-3272570/

WOW!

 

[jolenesdad]

[x] Ranger became popularized as a name for a free ranging dual purpose bird with good meat development (contra the many DP birds which are mostly layers). Suddenly, there was a proliferation in the market of "Rangers", each company using their own [x]. At this point, I can't even tell you who, or which hatchery, was first; only that "Ranger" has now taken on the community understanding of a common mark, the way "Coke" is synonymous with "Soda" in much of the county.

Red Ranger
Freedom Ranger
Rudd Ranger

etc.

Pick your favorite large hatchery, and keyword search on "Ranger" - they will likely have [something] "Ranger".

(my own, eventually, "Clay Ranger" - maybe I should TM it now? If its still available)

HURRY BEFOFE CACKLE TAKES CLAY RANGER TOO!

anyway, I imaging they can’t claim exclusive use of the word “ranger” for whatever reason. “Freedom Ranger” specifically “Rudd ranger” etc are exclusive use, but no one is able to claim “ranger” as exclusive. I don’t know much at all, but something like that may be at play here.

I am shocked they have been given trademarks for words that are already in use. “Easter egger” is not original and is in use commercially.