Re: Harley-Davidson sound trademark?

On Thu, 29 Jul 1999, Robert Cumbow <rcumbow[_at_]grahamdunn.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Jul 28, 1999, Michael Moore <mmoore[_at_]mtu.edu> wrote:
> >
> > The motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson filed a request with the
> > PTO to trademark its 'unique' engine sound in 1994. Does anyone know
> > what the final adjudication of that case is? I know that several
> > other manufacturers submitted opposing views (which I'd like to track
> > down and read someday), but I haven't been able to find any updates,
> > either on the PTO site, or by searching the CNI archives, though I
> > know it was discussed here at one point.
> >
> > Does anyone have any pointers on how I might find the status of
> > that case?
>
> A search of the US Trademark Database <http://www.uspto.gov/tmdb/index.html>
> for marks containing the term "Harley" in the owner field and the term
> "motorcycle" in the goods field reveals 42 marks--40 of them registered,
> two the subject of still-pending applications. None of these registered
> or pending marks is the sound mark. It seems likely that the
> application was either abandoned or refused.

Following Bob's suggestion, I did a quick search on the USPTO site and found this entry:

http://trademarks.uspto.gov/cgi-bin/ifetch4?ENG+ALL+3+934162+4+1+371475+F+136+140+101+ON%2fharley+AND+ON%2fdavidson

which shows that an application for the sound of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle exhaust (Ser. No. 74/485223) was published for opposition in April of 1995, and that as of November of 1995, a TTAB opposition proceeding was underway.

That was more than three years ago, so perhaps the initial discovery period may be drawing to a close . . .

Greg Ikonen
<gikonen[_at_]venlaw.com> Received on Mon Aug 02 1999 - 17:03:33 GMT