Eco-Mark Explosion
The Dechert law firm’s annual report on trends in trademarks (which I accessed through this post on Greenbiz) came out in April, and its top story was the explosion of eco-mark applications received by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office in 2007.
Among the report’s findings is that the number of marks including the word GREEN more than doubled from 1,100 in 2006 to 2,400 in 2007. The phrase GO GREEN appeared in over 100 different proposed marks. The word CLEAN was used in over 900 applications, and GREEN and CLEAN appeared together in 74 marks. Over 50 different marks paired CLEAN with either FUEL, ENERGY or POWER.
The report also noted that marks including the prefix ECO more than doubled to almost 900. ENVIRONMENT appeared in more than 450 marks, and ENERGY was used in almost 1200 marks. The report is an interesting read, and the narrative on the ECO-products and services available to consumers is both hilarious and mind-boggling. (see my previous posts on eco-marks here)
May 6th, 2008 at 12:22
Well…this is so true. Companies, TV, the media, etc. is jumping all over this “green” thing. I feel like it’s too quick, too sudden. I question the level of genuineness of these efforts. It almost just strikes me as a fad…green-this, green-that.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:24
It’s definitely just a marketing gimmick for many, and there are a lot of half-truths and misleading environmental claims out there too.