cuddlefish

Friday, April 17, 2009

Do you know the difference between a rollergirl and a snack food?

Crackerjack vs. Frito Lay (via Texas Rollergirls)

"Plano-based snack company Frito-Lay North America, Inc. recently put the corporate kibosh on local rollergirl Colleen "Crackerjack" Bell's attempt to trademark her nickname for roller derby competitions. In their opposition, filed April 8, Frito-Lay essentially alleges that their tasty caramel popcorn treat runs the risk of being confused with a bunch of tough ladies who try to bruise each other while skating around a circular rink." – Austinist

Frito-Lay claims in their opposition of the roller derby-specific trademark that Crackerjack is merely descriptive, not a proper name; they claim there is a great likelihood of confusion between the candied popcorn and the rollergirl; that use of the word crackerjack by a rollergirl dilutes the connection between the words Cracker Jack and candy popcorn, and/or tarnishes the image of the snack; and finally they claim that Crackerjack is falsely suggesting a connection between herself and candied popcorn, and the insinuation is causing harm to Frito-Lay.

Crackerjack talks about her trademark on Austin Fox and CBS affiliates:
on Fox - http://tinyurl.com/crackerjack-FOX
on CBS - http://tinyurl.com/crackerjack-CBS

The story has also gotten coverage in the Madison, WI local press
http://77square.com/citylife/features/story_447246

Balderdash. Or should we say, Poppycock. If you still don’t get it, watch this:

We think that people are generally smart enough to tell the difference between a rollergirl and a snack. If we’re right, please tell Frito-Lay and encourage them to drop this opposition. http://www.fritolay.com/about-us/contact-us.html

friday reads

Glenn Greenwald on Obama's release of the OLC torture memos.

Didgby on "professional" courtesy.

Christy Hardin Smith asks: Which language is from Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn's seminal work The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956 and which is from US Department of Justice OLC memoranda issued in the last few years.

Spencer Ackerman on OCL's medieval documents.