A U.S. District Court in Georgia determined that Wal-Mart failed to prove it possessed common-law trademark rights to the ubiquitous yellow “Smiley Face” icon that has been used extensively in its advertising.  Because it was unable to show that members of the purchasing public uniquely identified the icon with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., its efforts to preclude usage by others failed.  As a result, Wal-Mart had not so nice of a day.  (Smith v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 86 USPQ 2d 1835.)

Tom Nikolai     (612) 392-7307           Tom.Nikolai@nm-iplaw.com