In the animation series The Simpson, main character Homer Simpson’s favorite drink is Duff beer. In Disney’s WALL-E all companies are replaced by one, gigantic company that sells all: Buy N Large.
Both Duff beer and Buy N Large are fictional brands, but they do have a trademark design, as if they were real.
Fictional trademarks also appear in non-animated movies: what to think about the ghost-logo in Ghostbusters, the Mr. Fusion logo in Back to the Future and Mad Men’s SCDP (Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Price) logo.
And then there is the McDowell’s-logo in the movie Coming to America (see: our earlier post) and the Monsters, Inc. logo from the movie Monsters, Inc.
In Australia, a court already rendered a decision on Duff beer judging that it was a valid mark, and that there was likelihood of confusion and ‘coat tail riding’.
You can read a very interesting article on protection of fictional trademarks here.
See more fictional logo’s here.