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Interview With Scott Tilton – Social Network Monetization

October 7th, 2010 | Author: detesia

Property Developers Paralimni Cyprus

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Scott Tilton, the CEO of Loop’d Network is very much into action sports. And he has found a way to combine social media with sponsorships within the action sports world. Its a pretty interesting model, the best way of monetizing social networking sites I’ve ever heard of. He gets ECPM’s in the multiple $$ ranges, compared to the miserable ECPM’s of other social networking sites. Loop’d Network get users of the site to compete to become sponsored by brands. Its a great offer for the brands since they get some of the very best candidates available. (note that Loop’d Network is completely different to Loopt, the iphone gps application)

Since he’s taken the venture funding route, Scott asked me to mention that Loop’d is currently profitable but are looking to grow the company even more quickly and is looking for investors.

And if you’re looking for ideas for monetizing social networking type traffic, Scott’s interview is a good one to check out for a fresh approach.

Adrian: We’re here with Scott Tilton, CEO of the Loop’d Network. Scott, thanks for joining us.Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and where you’ve come from?

Scott: I was born and raised in New York. I am a former competitive action sport athlete. At the age of six, I started racing BMX bicycles. When I was 10, I transitioned into motocross, which I did for about ten years.

I got my Masters Degree in Internet Business Systems and had one job out of school. It was pretty miserable, so I tried to find opportunities to work in the action sports space and combine it with the Internet. Nothing really popped out at the time, so I founded a company called SponsorHouse.

In 2003 I moved to San Diego, in a motor home, with SponsorHouse and my business partner. We didn’t know anyone when we showed up, so we started pushing to grow the company. That year we won a business plan competition, which led to our first angel-round funding.

SponsorHouse was around for about five years and was the prequel to Loop’d Network. We essentially used the same technology, the same investors, the same team, and rebranded under the Loop’d Network to expand the business model.

Loop’d Network is an online action sports network where athletes and enthusiasts can register for a profile, interact with others, and attempt to get sponsored from about 400 brands who are on the network. We charge advertising and e-commerce fees to sports equipment companies and mainstream advertisers who are focused on reaching our demographic of primarily young males, mostly in the 12 to 24 year-old age bracket, which is the sweet spot for action sports.

Adrian: Why change the name to Loop’d?

Scott: When we first started as SponsorHouse, we were a sponsorship service. Over the years, we found that we were starting to lose some opportunities to work with some key brands and athletes.

Oakley is an example of a company that was hesitant to work with us as SponsorHouse. We had a great relationship with them and knew we were going to work together at some point. It was understood that while we were SponsorHouse, they didn’t want to put the message out that they were sponsoring athletes. As soon as we launched Loop’d, we did a one-year deal with them, and we launched the Oakley Rider Search program. They actually renewed the deal after that first year. It was implied sponsorship, but the word “sponsorship” never showed up anywhere.

When it comes to sports marketing, brands are very specific and particular about how they get involved with things. On the action sports front, it’s a little bit trickier because you’re taking a risk. If the athlete turns out to be a punk or is a bad image for the company, it taints things for the company and the brand. It’s the same way with sponsorship; companies just keep a really tight wrap on who they will associate their brand with in order to protect the identity of the company.

Adrian: Outside of the sponsorship side, what do users actually do with Loop’d?

Scott: Our members can register on the site, receive a profile and have access to different features such as sponsorship, photos and video applications. We have 400 brands on the network, and we immerse those brands into the experience. With sports, brands are just part of the lifestyle. People in action sports really identify themselves based on the brands: the clothes they wear and the equipment they use, so they don’t view them as advertisers but as active participants in the sport.

The members on the site are looking for sponsors. They’re uploading massive amounts of content, mixing it up, mashing it up and redistributing it to other social networking profiles. They’re getting deals on products and entering contests from the brands to try and get sponsored and win products and incentives. Then they’re using it as a more traditional social network to connect and interact with other members who are into similar sports.

We have a lot of hopefuls on the network who are trying to figure out how to promote themselves, how to get a foot in the door with the different companies for sponsorship and using it as a self-promotion tool to break into the action sports scene.

Adrian: Is that a model that could then be replicated across other verticals where you have a community of people that want to move up, such as actors, writers or people like that?

Scott: Absolutely. We’ve chosen to focus on sports because it’s really what we know and have been most passionate about. We have been approached by a number of people about everything from music to horseracing, rodeo and actors. The biggest categories that come to us on a regular basis and ask if they can use it are musicians, bands, and gamers.

Adrian: Did you originate your concept or did it come from somewhere else?

Scott: We were definitely pioneers with the sponsorship model. Prior to SponsorHouse, there really was no solution for up-and-coming and amateur athletes to get sponsored. Back in 1999- 2000, the traditional process was an amateur athlete would write a resume, post his competition results, and throw some photos into an envelope. If he was lucky enough, he would put a video in there for sponsor reps or team managers to look at. And he would mail them to a company.

Some of the more popular companies like Oakley and Quiksilver would get tens of thousands of applications for sponsorship, and most of them would never get looked at because no one was designated to sift through all this information nor did they have the time to do it.

When we launched SponsorHouse, it was a community site with profiles where team managers could specify the criteria of what types of athletes they’re looking for. For example, “I’m looking for a 14-year old motocross racer from New York.” If you fit that criteria, then you could contact that company.

It’s a way for them to streamline the whole application process. We were the pioneer in developing that type of concept that really brought the world of sponsorship to a much larger audience of athletes from all over the country at multiple levels beyond just professional.

Adrian: Does a company typically say, “We need to find a 14-year-old guy in New York City” and then your system finds a 14-year-old skateboarder in New York City?

Scott: Correct. It works one of two ways. They can create a sponsorship listing that would enable people to contact them or they could do a search to pull all the people that fit their criteria. They can browse profiles, look at photos and videos, see how many friends they have, what people are saying about them, and what kind of ratings they have. They can get a better gauge of who they’re looking at and what type of person they are based on who they’re friends with. At the end of the day, it’s essentially marrying the effects of social networking with a commercialised process like sponsorship.

Adrian: How does the social networking fit into this then?

Scott: In addition to trying to get sponsored, the members of the site are also out aggregating networks of friends and fans. For them, the more people they have in their network, the more valuable they are to a sponsor. That way when a brand sponsors a particular member, they now get visibility to all of their friends. It’s a very creative grassroots marketing program where the athletes’ online identity is sometimes as valuable, if not more, than their offline identity.

Adrian: If someone signs up, how are they promoting? What types of different tools do you let your guys use?

Scott: During the signup process, you have an option to import your address book and see who’s already on the network. You can invite people that are off the network. You can also do the traditional invite-a-friend.

Where we get more viral is on the sharing and inviting. Let’s say I’m a member with 500 friends in the network and 500 people I can communicate with off the network. I can post an update to my profile that says how I placed at a specific event. When I send the update, it will immediately notify all of my friends on the network as well as send an e-mail to all the people off the network. Then they have a link to visit my profile to see the update. They’re basically promoting themselves, which is helping to pull more people back into the network.

We also have a partnership with a company called MixerCast. Their technology is a mash-up type tool where the user can pull in Flickr photos, YouTube videos, UGC content, and music. Then you can create a mash-up, which is just mashing all this stuff together or essentially a timeline video editor.

For us, the application was perfect because now we offer a solution for a 14-year-old skateboarder to upload all his content of him doing tricks, put it together through the timeline editor, add music to it, and post it to his Loop’d profile. Then he can also share it and post it to his MySpace profile, his Facebook profile, or his Bebo. Anyone that wants to interact with that particular video or create their own has to come back to our network.

Overall, we don’t invest in marketing. We do some PR with our partners, but we don’t invest much in paid search at all. We don’t buy traffic or do print or event marketing. For the most part, everything is organic and word-of-mouth, and we get anywhere from 1,000 users and up a day to register.

Adrian: Why don’t you do something like Ning and be the network for connecting brands to communities?

Scott: Our network does have elements of Ning. For example, if you go to monsterarmy.com, it is the grassroots athlete online community on the Loop’d Network for the energy drink Monster Energy. We went to them two years ago to present the opportunity to build a branded community around the Monster Energy brand and position it as a grassroots community for athletes to connect with the brand. That community works almost identical to Ning where we offer a set of tools to brands to be able to build communities on our network.

Adrian: Why don’t you take that to support any potential vertical and allow all brands to come in?

Scott: We’ve considered it. From a resource perspective, we’re privately and angel-funded so we’ve been focused on making sure we went to action sports as a vertical first. We have actually been approached by several people. We’re now actually pursuing licensing opportunities to have different business teams that are interested in pursuing other verticals, and we’ll do more of a joint-venture/licensing arrangement with those types of companies.

Adrian: Let’s say you have 500 friends, and Monster Energy is sponsoring you. How is that sponsorship done so it’s not turning off those friends?

Scott: Immediately upon entering into an agreement with a company, such as Monster Energy, the logo shows on their profile. Monster now has visibility and real estate on their profile as a sponsor.

It’s then tied to everything the member does, so there’s always an insignia that specifies who the brands are that are sponsoring them. Immediately the member can also share with the rest of his friends and networks that he has just been sponsored by Monster. Also every member has an activity feed, and they can see what is happening with the rest of their friends on the network. That sponsorship will show on their activity feed for everyone else in the network to see.

Adrian: How much does a typical sponsorship agreement go for?

Scott: It really depends on who you are. Typically, the levels start from discounts off retail pricing on the equipment that you need, which ultimately saves a lot of money. That’s where most of the amateur athletes fall. Once you start getting into the very talented, up-and-coming amateur athletes who are on the verge of turning pro, they start getting free products. Then once you turn pro, a lot of those athletes are on straight pay. It’s not a rich man’s sport. Whether it’s surfing, motocross or skateboarding, as a pro you can start out making anywhere from $10,000 up to $10 million depending on who you are.

Adrian: Is the $10 million deal done through your site or do they do that directly?

Scott: They do those deals directly. The pro athletes who have agents and managers use our network strictly as a way to build fan bases and to promote their sponsors. They’re not doing deals on our network. We never wanted to be in the middle of the sponsorship deal or in competition with the agents or the managers of these professional athletes. We’re just the network where people can connect with each other.

Adrian: Given that you’ve got a monetisation model here, how well is it working?

Scott: We’ve actually monetised extremely well. Our site is free for members now. For a brand to get onto our network and be able to interact with our members, they have to buy a profile, buy a community, buy display advertising, or set up a store front or do e-commerce where we get an affiliate fee.

The profile is very similar to a MySpace or a Facebook profile except brands can use our sponsorships services, interact with members and have visibility to a very targeted demographic.

The community is like a sponsored group, such as the Monster Army concept I mentioned. When you buy a community, you have a whole set of tools to take over the look and feel of our pages and add different modules whether it be a contest, a poll, featured members or featured athletes.

Then we have a traditional display advertising model, which has been our least area of focus. The brands also have the ability to link up with their own stores or create their own storefront on our network, and they can sell products with deals to our members.

Adrian: You actually have a couple of business models all rolled into one. Can you tell me page impressions?

Scott: We view about 12 million to 15 million pages a month and we have 400,000 members right now, most of which are active. In terms of revenue per page, we’re in the $20-plus CPM range for revenue per page which is unheard of when other social networks are in the pennies.

Adrian: The nuances may be different as well because in other areas like in Facebook, advertisers can be often viewed as unwanted intruders whereas in your area, everybody wants the sponsors.

Scott: Correct. We’ve layered the brands into the experience where they’re not positioned as advertisers. They’re positioned as other participants on the network. We have a brand engagement metric where 85 percent of our 400,000 members have engaged with brands on our network. When they have sent sponsorship applications, they’ve entered a contest, and they’ve become a friend of that brand, they interact with them and have a relationship with that brand so the brand can now talk to them on a regular basis.

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Will Kelly Slater Go Gor Ten

October 4th, 2010 | Author: detesia

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Kelly Slater, current eight time world surfing champion took third place in the first event of the 2007 surfing season. Does that mean he will go for his ninth world championship crown and then, if he wins, maybe for his tenth? After the first event of the year it is still impossible to say.

So, will Kelly surf the whole tour and try to win an unbelievable ninth world title? Kelly explained: “This year I’ll just take whatever approach seems to make most sense to be relaxed and not worry about results so I’ll be able to perform in the most free way.” But this is exactly how the last years tour begun. Kelly was not sure if he will compete on the tour. He did very well on his first match of the year when he won over Taj Burrow in then also won the final of last years Quiksilver Pro. Good result kick started Kelly’s most consistent year ever. Last year his worst result was fifth place and he won his eighth world crown with two events remaining on the 2006 calendar.

He later explained: “I was just relaxed. When you don’t expect anything, good things happen. When you expect to win something, there’s no upside. It all just came together.” Third place in the first event is just about somewhere in the middle of doing good and bad by Kellys standards of course. Maybe this is just the thing to get his fire burning. So what will Kelly Slater do? Let’s wait and see.

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Tony Hawk Show: Day 3 Podcast

October 1st, 2010 | Author: detesia

Quiksilver Tony Hawk Show – quiksilverlive.com The greatest skateboarder in history The biggest skate ramp in Europe // An historic venue in Paris // An international music line-up // An urban trends art exhibition…

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The Future of Skateboarding

September 28th, 2010 | Author: detesia

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Where have we been, where are we now and where is skateboarding going ?

The Beginning

If we’re going to try to figure out the future, it’s probably a good idea to head back first and see how this thing started.

It all began in the fifties, when Californian surfers started attaching roller skate wheels to planks of wood and riding down their local streets. Skateboard manufacturers started springing up in the early sixties and a new lifestyle was born.

Urethane skateboard wheels were invented in 1972 and are still used today. The mid 70s saw the first skateboard parks begin to appear which naturally spawned new styles of riding, new tricks and new boards as skaters went vertical. Also in the mid 70s, a new competitive scene was born when a slalom and freestyle contest was held at the Ocean Festival in Del Mar, California .The famous Zephyr team turned the skateboarding world on its head with their new aggressive approach to freestyle skating. In 1978 the most famous skate trick of all, the “Ollie”, was invented by Alan Gelfand (the 70s were a big decade for skating).

The 80s were a comparatively slow decade for skateboarding although there was a boost that came with the popularity of the VCR when the first skateboard videos were introduced. The Bones Brigade Video Show was particularly popular and made Steve Caballero, Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Lance Mountain, Rodney Mullen, Stacy Peralta, and Kevin Staab household names amongst the skating fraternity.

The first Extreme Games were held in Rhode Island in 1995 and the skateboarding competition received a lot of attention leading to increased interest in the sport and raised its profile in the broader community. Skateboarding was also part of the first Winter X games in ’97 and competitive skateboarding had truly become mainstream.

The biggest thing to hit skateboarding in the 2000s is the massive popularity of the video game console. Skateboarding games lend themselves well to the format and there have been smash hit video games every year in the 2000s. A new generation of skaters was born as kids traded their console controllers for the real thing.

The Future of Skateboarding

Competitive skateboarding will be established as a legitimate mainstream sport in much the same way as surfing and surf culture. Just a few decades ago, surfers were looked down upon as untrustworthy reprobates. These days parent don’t think twice about wandering into the surf stores that exist in every shopping mall and loading up on clothes with surf labels for their offspring, who mightn’t even know what a beach looks like. Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning, Rip Curl, Quiksilver and Billabong are all trusted global brands now. Like it or not, watch for skating to go the same way. We’ll see mindblowing tricks leveraging energy and athleticism that would seem unimaginable today. Skate heroes will go mainstream and expect to see a much more advanced global competitive scene. Once again it’s instructive to take a look at surfing’s path. The competitive surfing scene floundered for decades before getting its act together in the late 80s, when the brave step was taken to give ultimate control of the sport to a single governing body. A new man-on-man format was introduced and contests were taken to the best waves at the best time of the year. The overall good of the sport finally overcame parochialism and commercial interest and poor, uncompetitive contests were discarded. Now, surfing has hit the big time – it has sophisticated, multi-tiered competitive scene with massive media coverage. Can skating go the same way ? Yes, if it allows itself to.

When it comes to local ramps and skate parks, expect bigger walls, bigger bowls and more of them. As the current generation of skaters grows up and gets its turn to have a say in council spending and infrastructure, well it’s good news for skaters who like parks and ramps.

Technology will impact skateboards in the same way that it’s hitting so many other products. Stronger, lighter materials will appear and the rapid distribution of information means that board and truck design will advance even faster. The impact of the internet is both a challenge and an opportunity for the local skateboard shop. Ecommerce growth rates are huge and more people are keen to buy skateboards online. The web allows a distribution model that effectively puts the consumer closer to the skateboard warehouse. If you long for the old days of the 70s wooden plank, then this mightn’t do much for you but if you’re kid on a limited budget, it’s all good news. Expect better, more technically advanced products at lower prices.

If skateboarding follows the same lines as other markets, then we might see further consolidation amongst the big brands, similar to Billabong’s acquisition of Sector 9. Other big players in today’s skateboard market are brands like Birdhouse, Girl, Zero, Plan B, Element and Blind. There’s a fair chance we could see a large company buy up a stable of big skate brands to get the pricing benefit that comes with volume, which can obviously help with product pricing but doesn’t always result inoriginal product design and creativity (when was the last time Ford or GM came out with a cool product ?). In any market, if the big get bigger, then opportunities arise for small players to carve out their own niche for local markets and buyers who are less brand conscious.

Maple is still the premium construction material for decks but surely the day is approaching when maple will be superceded, at least for some styles of board. New styles of boards will continue to emerge – the humble skateboard of the early days has already evolved into longboards, cruisers, retro boards, pool boards, old school and mountain boards. As well as lighter, stronger trucks and better quality wheels, there’ll be new deck plan shapes and original artwork.

So there you have it, a quick look at the past and a peek into the future – and the future looks good!

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Top 5 Surf Beaches in Australia

September 24th, 2010 | Author: detesia

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Where are the best surf beaches in Australia?
The Australian East Coast has some of the best surf beaches in the world. You may be familiar with brand names such as Rip Curl, Billabong, Quiksilver which are synonymous with surfing. Well they are all Australian and this country spends its days off work either watching football or going surfing.

There are literally hundreds of great surf beaches up and down the Australian East Coast and compiling a list of 5 is no easy task. However if you are thinking of coming to Australia for a surfing holiday then knowing where to go to get the best breaks will save you heaps of time….here we go!

1. Bells Beach Victoria

Probably the most famous and best surf beaches of all the Australian East Coast beaches Bells is well and truly the home of Australian surfing. Bells hosts the now very famous Ripcurl Pro where the winner rings the mighty bell upon winning the event. What makes the waves so great here is the lack of sand therefore the waves are consistent due to a lack of moving sand beds.

2. North Narrabeen New South Wales

Sydney’s northern beaches really do have the best surf beaches compared to other more well known Sydney beaches. Narrabeen Lake assists with wave shape as the run off results in a sandbank producing nice sets. Offshore deep water gives the waves good breaks compared to nearby beaches.

3. Kirra Beach Gold Coast Queensland

Kelly Slater once rated Kirra up there with his favourite beaches so that should be endorsement enough. Not to be outdone many a young surfer enjoys lazy mornings, afternoons, OK whole days riding the waves of Kirra

4. Tamarama Beach Sydney New South Wales

Just around the corner from Bondi Beach is the not-as-famous Tamarama Beach. Known as one of the most dangerous beaches in Australia the flip side of that is that it offers 12-15 foot swells which are awesome to watch from the cliffs above, as many a photographer knows.

5. Byron Bay New South Wales

Ok so Byron doesn’t give the best waves but it does give the best atmosphere. Byron Bay is all about alternative lifestyle with Kombi vans lining the streets, tie-dye clothing on every back, bongos getting drummed and ‘herbal’ wafts through the air. You want to be relaxed on your board then slowly paddle out to Tallows, Main Beach or Belongil.

As mentioned right at the start surfing is one of Australia’s great pasttimes. Nothing better than taking the board down on dawn and catching a few before heading off to work. For those that like to spectate watching surfers from cliffs above catch a few in is nearly as relaxing.

Of course there are other great beaches on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast plus up and down New South Wales. My Australian East Coast website shows you where they are, how to get to them and how to save money on your travels. It is a one stop shop of all travel advice that you can’t afford to miss.

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DC Shoes – From Droors to Quiksilver

September 21st, 2010 | Author: detesia

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Sports clothing and equipment is vital in order for athletes to be able to compete to the best of their ability. This is why most sportsmen at the top of their game have the best footwear, clothing and other equipment. When it comes to extreme sports like skateboarding and BMX, many traditional sportswear manufacturers don’t produce specific apparel for these sportsmen and women. This has meant that most extreme sports clothing and footwear labels have been started by the individuals involved with these sports.

DC Shoes is a sportswear apparel company that was started by Ken Block and Damon Way back in 1994. Ken Block had competed in a range of extreme sports from skateboarding to snowboarding and believed that sportsmen required specialist equipment in order to be able to compete at a high level. This led to the founding of Droors clothing in 1993 that would later be changed to DC in 1994. They focused on producing footwear that would give support whilst also being tough, with all of the skate shoes being tested by pro skaters.

DC is probably best known for their range of DC skate shoes. Their shoes have always combined street wear styles along with the functionality and durability needed for skateboarding. These expert design traits led to the brand becoming a subsidiary of Quiksilver soon after the company had been established. You can now find them everywhere and can buy DC skate shoes in Cheltenham, a small UK town to huge cities like New York.

Ken Block and Damon Way are still involved at DC Shoes as co-founders and Chief Brand Officers to ensure that DC skate shoes are still up to standard. Ken Block has competed in a number of sports including snowboarding and skateboarding and is currently achieving success as a rally driver and it is safe to say he has worn DC clothing to compete in most of these sports.

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Snowboarding – 6 MONTHS 2 LIVE – Ep. 5 – April HD

September 18th, 2010 | Author: detesia

Kontakt Filmproduction presents the fifth episode of 6 MONTHS 2 LIVE. This freestyle snowboarding webisodic adventure features the Quiksilver Ontario team consisting of Kyle Taylor, Kevin Scriver, Trevor Jennings, Andrew Kirn & Jamie Corneal plus friends. The series follows the team as they mission to spots and go on film trips each month. In the April webisode, the team travels to California for the final trip of the season. Highlights include a wicked session at June Mountains closing day, and a few days of shredding at Mammoth including the jib line, small park, half pipe and big park. For the full article on the trip and photos from Justin Kennedy, check out: snowboardcanada.com Produced and directed by Adam Bialo. Sponsored by Quiksilver and West 49. For more episodes visit www.6months2live.tv or check out www.kontaktfp.ca

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Action Highlights Rd2 – Quiksilver Pro Goldcoast 2009.

September 18th, 2010 | Author: detesia

Check out the action highlights of round 2 – hot and sunny day. The event started at Duranbah Beach with conditions improving and event moved back to Snapper Rocks to finish with great rides and waves.

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At The Beach – A Primer On The Selection And Clearance Of Trademarks

September 15th, 2010 | Author: detesia

Image : http://www.flickr.com

INTRODUCTION:

Surfboards, swim fins, wetsuits, t-shirts, swimsuits, sunglasses, sunscreen, bottled water, sandals, umbrellas, towels, volleyballs, ice chests…….. sounds like another summer day at the beach! To the savvy, business entrepreneur, however, these beach accessories/necessities are the breeding ground for commercial exploitation. Not far behind in this consumer petri dish of sand and capitalism is the need to select a trademark by which the item exploited will be known, e.g., HOBIE® surfboards, O’NEILL® wetsuits, OAKLEY® sunglasses, BAYWATCH® wristwatches, MIKASA® volleyballs, and COPPERTONE® sunscreen and tanning lotions. This article will highlight some famous trademarks in the sun, sand & surf and will briefly address the legal and business issues with respect to the selection, clearance and registration of such trademarks.

TRADEMARKS DEFINED

A trademark (or mark) is defined as any word, symbol, slogan, or device (such as a design), or a combination of them, used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify his goods or services and to distinguish them from those manufactured, sold or serviced by others. COPPERTONE® and SPEEDO® are excellent examples of ‘word’ marks. “TAN DON’T BURN” is an example of a ‘slogan’ mark. A logo or design such as the famous COPPERTONE girl and the dog is an example of a ‘design’ mark. An example of a service mark is ESPN® for the “entertainment services, reporting and sports programming services rendered through the medium of television.” Such a service mark as ESPN® can also be exploited and serve as a trademark (i.e., for clothes (shirts, hats, sweaters, vests); prerecorded videotapes; beach bags, beach towels, etc.). In the U.S., trademark rights are acquired through use (e.g., by selling or transporting your product in commerce with the mark attached or on a label). In addition, under certain circumstances “color” can be a trademark. Examples outside the surf/beach industry are the color “pink” for fiberglass insulation and “green” for dry cleaning pads.

SELECTION AND CLEARANCE

The selection of a trademark is the first step that a merchant undertakes to create an identity for his/her surfboard or swimsuit, etc. The clearance of a trademark is the process of determining whether or not the trademark is available and is not being used by someone else as a trademark. This clearance process cannot be overemphasized in its importance. Ignoring this vital step can lead to a multitude of problems and expense. In the clearance of a trademark, a two-step process is suggested. The first step is to conduct an on-line computer trademark search of the mark. This on-line search is further clarified by identifying the goods sought to be used or sold as trademarks are categorized by classification. In the United States, the federal government has adopted the International Classification system. Toys, sporting goods, volleyballs swim fins, bodyboards, and surfboards are in Class #28. Swimsuits and beach apparel and clothing are in Class #25. Backpacks, beach bags and gear bags are in Class #18. Posters, magazines, books, trading cards, and other printed matter and publications are in Class #16. Videotapes, audiotapes, video game software (including downloadable software over a global computer network), surfing and skateboard helmets are in Class #9. Therefore, if you are planning to sell surfboards, apparel and gear bags, then you will want to conduct an on-line search of Classes # 28, 25 and 18. The on-line search is often called a “knock-out” search. This is because the on-line search is a quick and relatively inexpensive way to determine if the mark is already being used. These on-line searches are often available at public libraries, commercial search firms and law firms.

If your mark appears free of conflicts after conducting an on-line search, the next level of search is the full search, which is obtained from commercial search firms like THOMSON COMPUMARK and CORSEARCH. The full search will search the federal database of trademarks at the Patent and Trademark Office, State trademark registrations, common law sources such as phone directories and Dun & Bradstreet listings, plus internet domain name registrations. If your mark still appears clear of conflicts after a full search, then you can be fairly certain that you can adopt and start using your mark. CAVEAT: These searches are not guarantees of the absence of conflicting marks, but they do allow a merchant to make a more informed decision in the clearance of a trademark.

FEDERAL TRADEMARK REGISTRATION

To obtain maximum protection, it is best to register your trademark or service mark. In the U.S., your greatest rights can be obtained with a federal trademark registration. If you are only conducting business within one state, e.g., California, it is possible to register your mark with the California Secretary of State. However, if it is your intent to do business across state lines or in foreign commerce (or if you are already doing business across state lines or in foreign commerce), then the prudent thing to do is to file for a federal trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office located in Alexandria, Virginia.

An application for registration of a trademark must be filed in the name of the owner of the mark. The applicant must submit: (a) a written application; (b) a drawing of the mark; (c) the required filing fee (which is $325 per mark per class at this time). The applicant will also incur attorneys fees, typically a fixed fee, should an attorney be hired to file the application(s). Trademarks registered with the Federal Government, as stated previously, are categorized by a classification system which correspond to the type of goods sought to be registered. For instance, MOREY® and MOREY BOOGIE® for bodyboards, CHURCHHILL® swim fins and MIKASA® volleyballs all are in Class #28. The ESPN® service mark is in Class #41; QUIKSILVER®, HANG TEN® and OCEAN PACIFIC® for clothing are in Class #25; BILLABONG® and BODY GLOVE® wetsuits are also in Class #25; REEF BRAZIL®, NIKE® and ADIDAS® for sandals and footwear are also in Class #25; SPEEDO® and TYR® backpacks and gear bags are in Class #18; SURFER® magazine, VOLLEYBALL® magazine and SURF BUSINESS(TM) are in Class #16 for publications.

After the mark is registered in the U.S., it is important to give notice of this fact by placing the registered trademark symbol, “®”, adjacent to the mark. Prior to registration, it is also advisable to use the symbols, “TM” (for trademarks) and “SM” (for service marks).

The chief advantages of a federal registration include:

“Constructive Notice” nationwide of the registrant’s claim to ownership of the mark. This basically eliminates the good faith defense of an infringer who claims to have lacked actual knowledge of the registered mark.

Registration is also evidence of (a) the validity of the registration; (b) the registrant’s ownership of the mark; and (c) the registrant’s exclusive right to use the mark in commerce in connection with the goods or services.

Registration also entitles the registrant to (a) file a lawsuit for infringement of the mark in Federal Court; (b) prevent importation of goods bearing an infringing mark; and (c) use the registration as a basis for registering the same mark in certain foreign countries.

Trademark registrations are valid for 10 years subject to certain use and filing requirements, and are renewable every 10 years, also subject to continued use and renewal filing requirements.

FOREIGN TRADEMARK REGISTRATION

If your product is distributed internationally, then you must, by and large, register your mark(s) in each country where you plan to do business or are doing business. Is this expensive? Yes! On the other hand, the alternative is the potential loss of the ability to sell your product in those countries where a third party has filed a prior application for your mark(s). Therefore, foreign trademark protection is typically obtained on a country-by-country basis. Unlike the U.S., however, trademark rights in many foreign countries are obtained by registration rather than use. This further necessitates the importance of filing for marks in foreign countries as soon as possible.

One notable alternative to the typical practice of registering trademarks on a country-by-country basis is the new (European) Community Trade Mark Application which has been available since January 1, 1996 for the filing of applications. By obtaining a Community wide trademark registration, an owner of a U.S. registered trademark, for example, can potentially save both time and money otherwise invested in registering a mark in each separate European country and can thus hopefully attain maximum protection for its trademarks in overseas markets at a minimum of cost.

CONCLUSION

Whether you are selling products or services, it is very important to be aware of your trademark and/or service mark and their value. In a competitive business environment, the potential for economic loss is tremendous if trademark rights are not acquired, evaluated, protected and maximized. While this article does not portend to cover all the intricacies of trademark law, hopefully it has helped to shed some light on this area of the law which is of paramount importance to the business owner.

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