Idaho Potato Commission As Trademark Trolls
from the go-eat-a-non-Idaho-potato dept
A bunch of folks have been sending in various versions of this story about how the Idaho Potato Commission owns the trademark on the use of the word "Idaho" in conjunction with any potato products, and has forced The Idaho Fry Company to change its name. Lawyers pointed out that The Idaho Fry Company could fight back -- and likely win -- but that it was a lot more costly than just changing its name, so the owners went with the latter option and caved in to the Idaho Potato Commission. The Potato Commission explained "we have to protect the name." Of course, the spokesperson left out the fact that you can't hold a trademark on a descriptive phrase -- and it would seem like Idaho being used to accurate name the state in which something was made is descriptive.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: idaho potatoes, trademark
Companies: idaho fry company, idaho potato commission
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What more are these gonna become
Dam, I must REALLY be behind all this crappic BS.
Fuck Idaho potato commission, i'll use that name as much as I want :D
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I don't think this one is trolling - they have the trademark, it is valid, and the trademark is in fact a good and reasonable one (otherwise some idiot would import potatoes on the cheap from Canada, call them Idaho potatos, and confuse the market).
Oh, before anyone asks, yes, there is a difference in potato types.
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Yeah, but in this case,
a) it's a restaurant, not a competing potato producing state
b) it's a restaurant in Idaho
c) it's a restaurant in Idaho that uses Idaho potatoes.
The place is called Idaho Fry Company - in no way do I personally mistake it for the Idaho Potato Commission.
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Due to a law suite from Idaho Potatoes we were forced to change our name to "This State Fry Company" and will no longer be serving Idaho Potatoes. We hope you will do the same.
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This just in...
More on this as it develops, back to you Mike.
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Frankly, I think Idaho Potatoes would fall under that category. When I think of the "Idaho" in Idaho Potatoes, I'm not thinking of the state, or even the origin of the vegetable. I'm thinking almost solely of the brand. Could just be me and my Irish love of starchy land turds.
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when you think of Idaho, you don't think of the state? I can see that.
When I hear Irish i don't think of the country I think of the brand that represents an bunch of drunk leprechauns beating up gays in NYC
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To be fair, our leprechauns beat up everyone when they're drunk, not just the gays.
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This just in
Mister Herbert has been dead since 1986 and is unavailable for comment.
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Kentucky Fried Chicken vs KFC
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Re: Kentucky Fried Chicken vs KFC
So first they tried these ridiculous hipster commercials trying to rebrand as Kountry Fresh Chicken, and when everyone thought that was stupid, they just shut up and quietly shifted everything to just plain KFC.
Nevermind that people who go to KFC go because they want deep fried breaded chicken pieces, fat laden biscuits, and lots of mashed potatoes and gravy. They would have done better to get rid of cole slaw than give up ownership of the word FRIED.
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