COLORBOMB Creations is my business name. I take great pride, as any artisan would, in my product and my reputation. I make every effort to provide quality handspun art yarn, spinning fibers, and fiber art offerings. Part of my business strategy has been to "brand" my yarn and fiber "lines", if you will. Because I originally conceptualized my products as one-of-a-kind, it never occurred to me to group them into categories of similar styles. But then I joined Ravelry and learned of their preference for entering yarns into their database in a make-model-color scheme (a la cars, eg. Chevy-Impala-white, like my old car, Betty), so I re-thought my idea about my products, and realized that my yarns can be categorized by spinning style.
I then set about dreaming up clever names (at least to me), for these yarn styles. I have always been very open about the fact that I am inspired in my spinning endeavors by the work of Lexi Boeger (Pluckyfluff); I have always credited her and her books, Pluckyfluff and Intertwined, as the jumping-off places for my yarns, and I couldn't have gotten where I am without her. She may not have invented all these techniques, but she gets credit for teaching me how to spin them. But my yarns are my interpretations of her techniques, and I certainly didn't want to use the same names Lexi uses to identify her yarn styles; they are hers. So, for example, when I mastered Lexi's 'mohairy' technique and started spinning a similar yarn, I decided to call my style 'Hirsute' (get it? hirsute = hairy). Any time anyone asks me how to make my 'Hirsute' yarn, I direct them to Lexi and her book, where I started.
I created names for all my yarn styles. If you are a regular reader of Velma's World, you'll know that LoopyDoopy, (S)craptastic, Bobblesque, and WoolyBear are some of my yarn lines. I decided that I wanted to protect my business interests by communicating that these names are proprietary to me and COLORBOMB Creations, so I researched how this is done in the U.S. Turns out this is via a trade mark.
I visited the United States Patent and Trademark Office and educated myself about how trade and service marks work. One of the things I learned is that it is not necessary to register a trademark to establish rights and alert others to a claim of ownership.
from the USP&TO, Basic Facts:
"What is a trademark or service mark? A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others."I don't claim ownership of the techniques I use to spin my yarns; most of them have been around for many years, and techniques can't be trademarked anyway. But I *do* claim ownership over the names that I've chosen to refer to my yarns. That is the purpose behind trademark in the U.S. All names, images, and text of COLORBOMB yarns and fibers are the sole property of COLORBOMB Creations.
"Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark."
"Is registration of my mark required? No. You can establish rights in a mark based on legitimate use of the mark."
"When can I use the trademark symbols TM, SM and ®? Any time you claim rights in a mark, you may use the "TM" (trademark) or "SM" (service mark) designation to alert the public to your claim, regardless of whether you have filed an application with the USPTO. However, you may use the federal registration symbol "®" only after the USPTO actually registers a mark, and not while an application is pending."
I hope this clears up this issue, and I welcome any feedback readers have - feel free to email me directly or leave a comment here.
Stay tuned for a post coming soon that will recap all current COLORBOMB yarn styles...
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