Michael A. Kahn

Author and Trial Attorney

  • Home
  • Books
  • Contact
  • About
Michael A. Kahn

Author and Trial Attorney

Frank Nelson Doubleday
BlogNews

Beers, Brands, Books, and Brawls

By Michael KahnPosted on December 15, 2018January 31, 20190 Comments2min read1641 views

Share

0

My bio describes me as a lawyer by day and an author at night–and I generally try to keep those two identities separate. But a recent trademark brawl over the word SCHLAFLY–a name associated with both the late conservative firebrand Phyllis Schlafly and her nephew Tom’s brewery–inspired me to write a post on that lawsuit for my law firm’s blog, and in the process got me to mull over the many examples of men and women who turned their last names into trademarks associated with the companies they founded.

The Simon and Schuster of Simon & Schuster

In particular, I thought about the publishing world, and quickly realized that the names of the big publishing houses are so established that it’s easy to forget that those names were, once upon a time, the names of the founders. Just as, say, many of us may not realize that Goodyear Tire’s founder was Charles Goodyear and Bird’s Eye Frozen Foods owes its name to Charles Birdseye, I didn’t realize that Doubleday, the publisher of my novel The Mourning Sexton (under the pen name Michael Baron), was founded by Frank Nelson Doubleday, whose image is displayed at the top of this post.

Richard Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster combined their efforts to create Simon & Schuster. James and John Harper and William Collins created HarperCollins. Louis Hachette founded Hachette. MacMillan got its name from its founders, Alexander and Daniel.

So if you’re thinking about naming a company after yourself or you’re just curious to learn more about the family brawl over the name SCHLAFLY, you can find my blog post here. To paraphrase Sigmund Freud’s famous (and perhaps defensive) remark about cigars, sometimes a beer is just a beer. But sometimes that beer can trigger a brawl that may yet end up in the United States Supreme Court.

 

Michael Kahn
Michael Kahn is a trial lawyer by day and a writer by night. He is the award-winning author of 11 Rachel Gold novels and 3 standalone novels, including his most recent one, PLAYED!, and several short stories. His latest Rachel Gold novel, BAD TRUST, is the 11th in that series.
Beers, Brands, Books, and Brawls

previously

Guess What? Now There’s an Awesome Map for Your Favorite Road Trip Novel
Beers, Brands, Books, and Brawls

up next

Now We Can All Take That Road Not Taken! The Copyright Freeze Has Melted

What do you think? Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

No Comments Yet.

Michael A. Kahn

Michael's Links

  • Mike's Lawyer Bio
  • Mike's Amazon Author Page
  • Now Available! Mike's Next Rachel Gold Mystery: BAD TRUST
  • Mike's last novel: PLAYED! — "Brisk, sprightly entertainment." – Kirkus Reviews
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Contact
  • Book Table
Copyrights © 2018 BUZZBLOGPRO. All Rights Reserved.