Aunt Jemima – Michael A. Kahn

Tonto, Aunt Jemima, and the Challenge of Oblivious Bias

Posted on February 28, 2021March 8, 2021 by Michael Kahn

Surrounded by dozens of hostile Indians on horseback waving rifles and tomahawks, the Lone Ranger turns to his faithful companion. “What are we going to do, Tonto?” “What do you mean ‘we,’ Kemo Sabe?” Earlier this year I gave a Strafford webinar presentation entitled “Rebranding Trademarks: Challenges of Walking Away and Choosing a New Mark.”…

From Covfefe to Aunt Jemima R.I.P.–Trademarks in the Era of Black Lives Matter

Posted on August 7, 2020August 18, 2020 by Michael Kahn

In my day job as an intellectual property lawyer I’ve been blogging occasionally about the strange new world of trademarks that began three years ago with the explosion of trademark registration applications for the 7-letter typo in one of Donald Trump’s late-night Tweet complaints about what he claimed was “fake news.” Following that trademark silliness…