Trademarking the name Mount Washington

[Steph]

Did anyone see the article in today's Conway Daily Sun regarding the Omni Resort wanting to trademark the name Mount Washington? Here is a quote from the article:
"The Mount Washington Hotel and Resort is trying to trademark the words "Mount Washington" Not "Mount Washington Hotel and Resort" but Mount Washington. They have already sent a cease and desist order to more than one business in our valley telling them that they must stop using Mount Washington in their name or face a legal challenge to its use". This letter came from Ed Butler who is Carroll County District 1 Representative.

[Snow Miser]

I would think that USPTO would find the words "Mount Washington" too generic, and not grant the issuance of protection. It's too widely used for the hotel to claim exclusive rights to it. They could probably get a trademark for their name "Mount Washington Hotel and Resort" or a logo since that's exclusive to them. Will be interesting to seeing how this turns out.

[mtruman]

Insane!! Trademarking the name of a mountain?? Really??? The USPTO does does some seemingly very dumb things but lets hope they draw the line before this. I also hope that this backfires on the Mount Washington Hotel. They could get some pretty bad press out of this if the valley businesses make an issue of it (which they should).

[Brad]

It is an interesting article. And somewhat disturbing for many companies and organizations which have "Mount Washington" in their names. I thought a company's name was protected based on registering the company. So, I am not sure what a registered trademark does extra. Mount Washington Hotel & Resort should not have a problem with Mount Washington Soap or Mount Washington Cable because they are different businesses. One might try to argue that Mount Washington Inn or Mount Washington Motel is close to "the real thing" and a person could be confused when they really wanted Mount Washington Hotel & Resort. But, that would be a stretch since MWH&R is in a completely different level of "temporary accommodations". This will be interesting to follow.

To see what the original trademark requests were, go to http://www.trademarkia.com/trademark...unt+washington

There used to be (and maybe still is) a company called Mount Washington Crystal and there is a Mount Washington Cable in Mount Washington, KY. Many states have a Mount Washington. Thanks for highlighting the article for us.

[Charlie]

so then Mt Washington cant even call itself Mt Washington any more

[Brad]

so then Mt Washington cant even call itself Mt Washington any more

If you called it Washington's Mount you would be confusing it with his horse. Very confusing.

[KSearl]

Hey Everyone,

Is the article online? I can't seem to find it. If so, can you someone post the link? I would love to read it.

Thanks,
Karl

[MelNino]

I was just about to post this! It's crazy.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articl...NEWS-101119947

[RI Swamp Yankee]

A PDF version of the Conway Daily Sun (November 11, 2010) is here:

http://www.laconiadailysun.com/pdf/2010/11/11.pdf

The letter to the editor is on page 7. (left side of page 7)

[Snow Miser]

so then Mt Washington cant even call itself Mt Washington any more

Maybe their motive is to license the name to whoever wants to use it??? Just a thought.