Trademark Infringement

I just finished another large update, adding 76 new cupcakeries and bakeries to our database.  As usual, I discovered that a lot of new cupcakeries are employing names that are already in use.  I have to say I'm a bit surprised this is still going on, given all of the recent publicity about trademark infringement in the cupcakery industry.  (E.g. Johnny Earle and Johnny Manganiotis clashing over "Johnny Cupcakes", and Sprinkles suing a whole slew of cupcakeries, including Famous Cupcakes and Sprinkled Pink Cupcake Couture.)

I've been keeping our list of duplicate names updated and I'm curious to see what the next legal tussle is going to be over.  My guess is one of the following:

1.  The Cupcakery
There are currently four companies operating under the name "The Cupcakery", two in the US and two in Canada.  I recently noticed that the Vegas-based The Cupcakery added the ™ symbol to all occurrences of their name on their website, indicating that they'd applied for the trademark.  (Once a trademark is awarded by the USTPO the ® symbol is used.)  A quick search of the USPTO database reveals that they applied for the trademark on 9/4/08.   According to their websites, the Vegas-based The Cupcakery opened in January 2006 (though they have a first-use-in-commerce date of 12/15/05 on their trademark application), and the St. Louis-based The Cupcakery opened in July 2007, so my guess is the Vegas-based The Cupcakery will be awarded the mark.  Since trademark holders are legally obligated to defend their marks, I assume that once they are awarded the mark they will request that the other cupcakeries stop using it.

2.  Hello Cupcake
We've currently got three "Hello Cupcake", three "Hey Cupcake", and one "Hey Sugar Cupcake" in our database.  Ignoring the latter two, the situation is still rather confusing and complicated.  The Tulsa-based Hello Cupcake (opened in 4/08) is using the ™ symbol on their website, which they are only legally allowed to do if they have a pending trademark application.  However, a search of the USPTO database reveals that the registrant for the "Hello Cupcake" mark is based out of Washington DC, and has a first-use-in-commerce date of 1/15/07.  So either the Tulsa-based cupcakery has a parent company in Washington DC, or the DC-based Hello Cupcake (opened on 9/25/08) is the one that applied for the mark, and the Tulsa-based cupcakery is using the ™ symbol illegally.  There's also the Tacoma-based Hello Cupcake (opened in 8/07) to consider, which is actually the first of the three to open for business.  Who applied for the "Hello Cupcake" mark?  Who will be awarded the mark from the USPTO?  It's all a mystery to me!

3.  Babycakes
We currently have 10 cupcakeries in our database that have "Babycake" in their name, not including Bebecakes.  As I mentioned in this post the "Babycakes" mark was awarded to Lone Star Consolidated Foods, Inc. in Dallas, TX in 1992.  They produce a "Babycakes" cake donut.  Will they ever go after any of the cupcakeries?  On the one hand, they are legally obligated to defend their mark, or else they can lose it.  On the other hand, it's been several years and they haven't gone after any of the cupcakeries yet.  I guess we'll have to wait and see!