I’ve received this from the Eat Local folks on top of Queen Anne:
I need to let you know that “Eat Local” is a trademarked term that describes the chef-prepared organic and wholesome meals, frozen for convenience, that are sold by our company, Eat, LLC.
We appreciate the fact that you admire our trademark and see its usefulness in promoting certain products or services. However, using our trademark without our permission may promote confusion in the minds of consumers and infringes our trademark rights.
We welcome the opportunity to work with you to come to some sort of agreement regarding use of our trademark, and would like to invite further discussions in this regard. In the meantime, we request that you discontinue all references to “Eat Local” that do not specifically refer to the meals prepared and distributed by Eat, LLC. If you find it necessary to use the phrase “eat local” to refer to anything other than our products, we suggest you add a phrase like the following:
“referred to as such because of the local origin of the food and not to be confused with “Eat Local,” chef-prepared organic and
wholesome meals distributed by Eat, LLC of Seattle, Washington.”Please advise me no later than January 31st, 2009 that you have stopped using the “Eat Local” trademark …
… Sincerely,
Gregory Conner
So, let’s just begin the discussion right here. First of all, there aren’t many people who read this blog regularly. But those who do know that I do not use the term ‘eat local’ to promote products or services. I write this blog to share and remember things that I cook at home, for my family, and on occasion to share my opinion on a local food issue. This is my freakin’ journal.
It’s kind of weird being pushed around by somebody selling “wholesome, organic, local” foods, but the truth is that I’ve never loved the name, Eat Local Northwest. So what I’m asking for, dear reader, is some creative help thinking up a new and better blog title. And feel free to pass along the word about the ‘other’ Eat Local.
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January 16, 2009 at 11:59 pm
stephen
Ridiculous.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/metaschool/fisher/domain/tm.htm#10
January 17, 2009 at 11:53 am
craftydabbler
Wow, that is really frustrating. My husband recommended “Eating Locally in the Northwest” for something similar. This isn’t very exciting either, but how about Northwest Locavores. Or Distant Friends and Local Food? Sorry that you are going through this.
January 17, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Katrina
I had to read this twice because I couldn’t believe it the first time. Hummmph.
If you’re really going to change your name the first thing that pops into my mind is to include the pea patch in the name. Northwest Pea Patch or some such combination. I’ll think about it. What do you have in mind?
January 18, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Gretchen Z
I don’t think that they have a valid claim. Your blog isn’t even a business. Trademarks are for TRADE. Plus trademarks apply to only the specific classes of goods and services for which you’ve applied and been granted a trademark by the USPTO. The whole point of trademark is so that there is no confusion for consumers about who is providing the good or service to them. It looks like Eat Local has a trademark for these specific classes: prepared frozen meals, liquors, retail store. So, unless your blog is a prepared frozen meal, or a liquor, or a retail store that sells prepared and frozen foods, seems to me that their letter is BS.
Here’s their listing from the patent and trade office site:
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=1o8ela.2.7
On top of all that, your blog is called “Eat Local Northwest,” and their trademark is for just “Eat Local.” A catering company was granted a trademark for the name “Eat Local It Matters.” So even though they have “eat local” trademarked, it is still legal to use those words in combination with other words for a fairly similar type of business.
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=nn5c8n.2.4
I wouldn’t change the name. But you may not have the time or inclination to deal with them. Just like I don’t have the time or inclination to shop there any more.
January 19, 2009 at 11:59 am
LD
Wow, has this business nothing better to do with its time and energy but pester bloggers? Yikes! Won’t comment on the legal validity but must say from a common sense point of view, this is absurd.
On the other hand, some suggestions. Caution: I did not run trademark checks on any of these. 😉
– My (Our) Eating Local Blog
– Local Eating NW
– Adventures in NW Local Eating
– Local Eating Adventures
– Locavoring in the NW
– Explorations of NW Locavores
Not much creativity today, will keep thinking. In the meantime, sorry you’re dealing with this! Please keep the blog entries coming.
January 19, 2009 at 1:26 pm
sally
What do I know, but Eat Local Northwest and Eat Local are clearly not the same name. I’m sorry you’re having to deal at all with such pettiness.
Eat local has become a commonly used reference for the food part of the sustainability movement – are we all going to receive letters from these guys?
January 20, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Finspot
One word for Gregory: Lame.
January 21, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Dakota
I agree with Gretchen… “Eat Local Northwest” is NOT the same as “Eat Local,” which frankly surprises me because there’s an entire movement devoted to “Eat Local” and why haven’t they been contacted then? I’m no lawyer, but what will happen if you ignore it? They’ll file a lawsuit? Additionally, I’d be interested to know when your blog and their business came into being… if yours was first… I wonder if that could be a defense.
I can’t tell you what to do, but I sure wish you could get some legal advice before you give in to their demand. I have always liked the name, I thought it was catchy and professional sounding (probably why the Eat Local people have an issue with it).
January 21, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Poppy
OMG. This is so ridiculous. How narrow-minded is he to think that there aren’t millions of references to “eat local” all over the place? Those of us promoting eating locally need to stick together, not threaten each other.
January 22, 2009 at 10:45 am
another meaning for the eat local challenge « Eat Local Northwest
[…] you carefully read the letter from Greg Conner, of the Seattle company Eat Local, which sells frozen food up on Queen Anne, you’ll notice […]
January 22, 2009 at 10:01 pm
jenn
Lame…..very lame….not just the letter, I mean his food. I went to that frozen food place with my youngest and bought something which neither of us liked and we ended up tossing in a trashcan in favor of a jamba juice……
that said, can’t wait ’till he tries that cease and desist stuff on alice waters and the slow food people!
January 26, 2009 at 8:09 am
Matt Hagen
My wife went through a similar experience when she started her first business, “Firefly Communications.” A British firm that wasn’t even doing the same sort of work bullied her out of the name.
There are a limited number of words in English, and I’m sure lots of businesses have similar or identical names but can be easily discriminated between (e.g. “Eat Local Northwest” and “Eat Local Weasels on Queen Anne”).
Somebody has got to clean up the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office! By granting trademarks to terms as general as these it robs the rest of us of our language, similar to how patenting of genes discovered in nature can rob people of their heritage.
I, for one, am going to make it a point to use “eat local” in my everyday speech and writing as much as possible, specifically pointing out that I do not mean the joint on Queen Anne. And since I live in Seattle, when I go running I’ll blow raspberries at their storefront or wander through it all hot and sweaty and gross, then not buy anything.
Good luck!
January 27, 2009 at 4:04 pm
hshaw
Tell that guy to go f*** himself. He basically just made an enormous PR blunder with this — now the blogosphere knows who he is and NOT to ever, ever, buy his frozen products. Collectively we reach far more people than his little “wholesome” company, and anyone who Googles his “eat local frozen foods” will see reams of pages on how awful he is. Karma’s a bitch…