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These excerpts taken from the GIS 10-K filed Jul 11, 2008. TRADEMARKS
AND PATENTS
Our products are marketed under trademarks and service marks
that are owned by or licensed to us. The most significant
trademarks and service marks used in our businesses are set
forth in italics in this report. Some of the important
trademarks used in our global operations include:
Table of Contents
Trademarks are vital to our businesses. To protect our ownership
and rights, we register our trademarks with the Patent and
Trademark Office in the United States, and we file similar
registrations in foreign jurisdictions. Trademark registrations
in the United States are generally for a term of 10 years,
renewable every 10 years as long as the trademark is used
in the regular course of business.
Some of our products are marketed under or in combination with
trademarks that have been licensed from others, including:
• Yoplait for yogurt in the United States;
• Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues,
and Diego for yogurt, Dora the Explorer for
cereal, and Dora the Explorer, Diego and
SpongeBob SquarePants for vegetables;
• Curves for snack bars, popcorn, and cereal;
• Caribou Coffee and Second Cup for
snack bars;
• Reese’s Puffs for cereal;
• Hershey’s chocolate for a variety of
products;
• Weight Watchers as an endorsement for soup;
• Best Life Diet for a variety of products;
• Macaroni Grill and Mario Batali for
dry dinners;
• Sunkist for baking products and fruit snacks;
• Cinnabon for refrigerated dough, frozen
pastries and baking products;
• Bailey’s for super-premium ice
cream; and
• a variety of characters and brands for fruit snacks,
including Tonka, My Little Pony, Transformers, Animal
Planet, Care Bears, Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles, Polly Pocket, Spider-Man, and various
Warner Bros. characters.
We license all of our cereal trademarks to Cereal Partners
Worldwide (CPW), our joint venture with Nestlé S.A.
(Nestlé). Nestlé similarly licenses certain of its
trademarks to CPW, including the Nestlé and Uncle
Tobys trademarks. We also license our Green Giant
trademark to a third party for use in connection with its
sale of fresh produce in the United States. We own the
Häagen-Dazs trademark and have the right to use the
trademark outside of the United States and Canada. Nestlé
has an exclusive royalty-free license to use the
Häagen-Dazs trademark in the United States and
Canada on ice cream and other frozen dessert products. We also
license this trademark to our joint ventures in Japan and Korea.
The J. M. Smucker Company holds an exclusive royalty-free
license to use the Pillsbury brand and the Pillsbury
Doughboy character in the dessert mix and baking mix
categories in the United States and under limited circumstances
in Canada and Mexico.
Given our focus on developing and marketing innovative,
proprietary products, we consider the collective rights under
our various patents, which expire from time to time, a valuable
asset, but we do not believe that our businesses are materially
dependent upon any single patent or group of related patents.
TRADEMARKS AND PATENTS Our products are marketed under trademarks and service marks that are owned by or licensed to us. The most significant trademarks and service marks used in our businesses are set forth in italics in this report. Some of the important trademarks used in our global operations include:
Table of ContentsTrademarks are vital to our businesses. To protect our ownership and rights, we register our trademarks with the Patent and Trademark Office in the United States, and we file similar registrations in foreign jurisdictions. Trademark registrations in the United States are generally for a term of 10 years, renewable every 10 years as long as the trademark is used in the regular course of business. Some of our products are marketed under or in combination with trademarks that have been licensed from others, including: • Yoplait for yogurt in the United States; • Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, and Diego for yogurt, Dora the Explorer for cereal, and Dora the Explorer, Diego and SpongeBob SquarePants for vegetables; • Curves for snack bars, popcorn, and cereal; • Caribou Coffee and Second Cup for snack bars; • Reese’s Puffs for cereal; • Hershey’s chocolate for a variety of products; • Weight Watchers as an endorsement for soup; • Best Life Diet for a variety of products; • Macaroni Grill and Mario Batali for dry dinners; • Sunkist for baking products and fruit snacks; • Cinnabon for refrigerated dough, frozen pastries and baking products; • Bailey’s for super-premium ice cream; and • a variety of characters and brands for fruit snacks, including Tonka, My Little Pony, Transformers, Animal Planet, Care Bears, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Polly Pocket, Spider-Man, and various Warner Bros. characters. We license all of our cereal trademarks to Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW), our joint venture with Nestlé S.A. (Nestlé). Nestlé similarly licenses certain of its trademarks to CPW, including the Nestlé and Uncle Tobys trademarks. We also license our Green Giant trademark to a third party for use in connection with its sale of fresh produce in the United States. We own the Häagen-Dazs trademark and have the right to use the trademark outside of the United States and Canada. Nestlé has an exclusive royalty-free license to use the Häagen-Dazs trademark in the United States and Canada on ice cream and other frozen dessert products. We also license this trademark to our joint ventures in Japan and Korea. The J. M. Smucker Company holds an exclusive royalty-free license to use the Pillsbury brand and the Pillsbury Doughboy character in the dessert mix and baking mix categories in the United States and under limited circumstances in Canada and Mexico. Given our focus on developing and marketing innovative, proprietary products, we consider the collective rights under our various patents, which expire from time to time, a valuable asset, but we do not believe that our businesses are materially dependent upon any single patent or group of related patents. | EXCERPTS ON THIS PAGE:
RELATED TOPICS for GIS: |
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