Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia Pet Just Applied For Trademark On Jingle For Some R-R-R-Reason
from the what-year-is-this? dept
I'll forgive you if you haven't spent a lot of time thinking about Chia Pets lately. This is, after all, 2020 and not the 90s and we a couple of things going on that have probably held your attention. If you're so young that you don't remember these things, they're essential potted plants shaped like a variety of animals, objects, and celebrities, laden with grass seeds that grow and look like hair and oh my god why is this a thing? Regardless, the product, first developed in the 70s, became popularized in the 90s and was advertised with a well-known jingle: ch-ch-ch-Chia! While Chia Pets are still sold today, they are no longer the cultural icon that they were in these earlier times.
And yet, for some reason, it was only this past week that the folks behind Chia Pets decided to try to trademark that famous jingle.
Standard Character Claim: No
Mark Drawing Type: 6 - NO DRAWING-SENSORY MARK
Description of the Mark: The mark consists of the sung words CH CH CH CHIA in the notes E4, E4, E4, A4, G4.
Now, while that trademark description does indeed look decidedly silly, it certainly is possible to trademark sounds and jingles. The bar for trademarking sounds is a bit higher than other marks, mostly centering on the public's association with a sensory mark and a product, but Chia Pets' jingle probably fits the bill.
This means that sound marks – just like visual trademarks – may be easily registered when they are:
“arbitrary, unique or distinctive and can be used in a manner so as to attach to the mind of the listener and be awakened on later hearing in a way that would indicate for the listener that a particular product or service was coming from a particular, even if anonymous, source.”
It's worth noting that any jingle like the above would also be immediately covered by copyright protection upon creation. That's one of the many factors that has me wondering why in the world this trademark had to be applied for in 2020. Add to that the waning notoriety of Chia Pets and its jingle generally, along with my having never heard of anything remotely like any competitors in the "Clay planters for flowers and plants" industry trying to use the jingle, and this all becomes all the more confusing.
Why, after fifty years in business and decades of using this jingle, does it need to suddenly be protected by trademark law?
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Simple. They needed a 95-year term so that in 2114, if anyone tries to market sp-sp-spaceships or l-l-laser guns, the Ch-Ch-Chia Pets guys can sue them into oblivion.
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Re:
Nah, not into oblivion. Just for a nice, lucrative 25% of their profits.
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:)
Techdirt is going to get sued for allowing the repeating of copyrighted material. Ch-Ch-Ch-Lawsuit!
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Re: :) Ch-Ch-Ch-Lawsuit!
Ch-ch-ka-ching maybe?
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Because their 28 year old lawyer told them everything has to be trademarked and copywrited
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"they're essential potted plants"
No, they're not. They're decidedly non-essential.
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If the trademark includes the specific notes, does that mean singing it horribly off key is not a violation?
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How could anyone forget Chia-Obama? (And more recently, Bob Ross. Home of The Clapper, too. I wonder why no crossover.)
Also they aren't really pots, the chia grows on the surface of the terracotta. You can pop the chia seeds once they mature, if you run out of popcorn during the Liebowitz Saga.
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Now it's stuck in my head. Aarrggh.
It was also during the '90s when the Kia motor company began to expand and sell cars in the US. I couldn't help conflating the two things (small, cheap, useless?) and thinking that Kia should use the same jingle: K - K - K - Kia Car!
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Re: Now it's stuck in my head. Aarrggh.
I always thought it sounded like the opening of the Sanford & Son theme.
Kia, that definitely works. Remember when it was also cool to have your cars paint job done up as a billboard? A Chia Kia would be killer.
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Why, after fifty years in business
and decades of using this jingle, does it need to suddenly be protected by trademark law?
In case the ghost of David Robert Jones comes back to discuss ch-ch-ch-changes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMQ0Ryy01yE
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Re: Why, after fifty years in business
"Why, after fifty years in business and decades of using this jingle, does it need to suddenly be protected by trademark law?"
Billable hours?
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Re: CVS Customer Satisfaction Survey Follow This Instruction
And how is this relevant to Chia pets or trademark?
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