Restaurants and intellectual property – how many types of IP can you discover?

When we think about restaurants, and depending on who we are, we may think of different types of intellectual property.

Think of your favourite restaurant – what do you think of?

Do you think of the name of the restaurant?

Does the restaurant have iconic signage?

Do people refer to the colour scheme?

Is the signage given an iconic name, like “golden arches”?

Is there an iconic bucket in the signage, giving possible patrons an idea of what kind of food is served?

Is the restaurant a famous chain, or is it one or a few select locations of a growing brand?

If it’s not the name you’re thinking of, are you thinking of your favourite dish at this restaurant?

Are the food items made with a secret recipe, like an unknown sauce?

Is there more than ten secret herbs and spices in the food you love?

Do they serve a secret blend coffee that tastes just … oh so good?

Does the food have a particular smell that only that restaurant can make, to drive customers through the door?

How about when you see your favourite restaurant’s television commercials?

Do the commercials have a memorable jingle?

Can you still sing that jingle after so many years?

Does that jingle always make you think of that restaurant?

Does the jingle make you hungry?

If there’s one thing we learned from the forced Government shut-downs and destruction is that people love and miss their favourite restaurants.

Why?

Why would people love and miss their restaurants so much?

Apart from being hungry, it may have something to do with all the intellectual property restaurants generate.

So what types of intellectual property can you find in a restaurant?

In this article alone, so far we’ve seen:

Trademarks – a word, logo, slogan, or design, commercially used in association with products and / or services, so as to distinguish the source of those products or services.

Where do you see trademarks in a restaurant?

You’ll see it on their signage.

You’ll see it on packaging / wrapping of food products.

You’ll see it on advertisements like television and radio commercials, as well as print and digital advertisements.

Don’t forget their jingles and songs that constantly cite not only the restaurant name, but a musical slogan that also attaches to the restaurant.

Even when you phone a restaurant and request a reservation or take out, chances are the telephone will be answered by someone who states first and foremost, their trademark.

What if  your soft drink managed to become not just the choice of an entire nation, but the entire world?

What would happen if all of a sudden the market shifted and people became more health conscious and started avoiding your soda?

What if years after becoming established, senior executives in the company became politicized and pushed their political views on your staff and customers?

In the health conscious scenario, it’s possible to explore alternatives, like changing a recipe to use a sugar substitute.

But in the latter scenario, once a company goes politically woke, can you recover?

What if it wasn’t soda, but instead a food item people loved – like fried chicken?

What if you had a huge corporate history built on nothing but a fried food?

It’s not so easy to change a fried chicken recipe everyone loves.

And don’t forget, health consciousness is always changing.

One day the health care industry tells you to avoid chicken, the next day they tell you you’re not getting enough chicken.

Your trademark is at the mercy of market forces.

What if you’re a famous Hollywood award show, but year after year, your participants get more and more political?

What if your award show participants have no idea that they are continually turning off your audience with their politics and preaching?

Can your award show survive?

What happens to the goodwill associated with your trademark?

Will your trademark be destroyed, or can you rehabilitate it?

Trademark goodwill will always be subject to attack.

The attack on the value of the goodwill of your trademark can come from internal forces or external forces.

Therefore, it’s a good idea to adopt some key practices to maintain the value of the goodwill of your trademark, or at the least rehabilitate your goodwill.

To avoid internal damage, trademark owners should stay away from politics, sex, religion, and other topics intensely personal to individual taste.

One key to maintaining trademark goodwill (from the internal perspective) is instead to focus on your business’s products and services only.

Yours customers don’t want your personal opinions, and they don’t want your preaching.

What made your trademark great was your associated products and services, and that’s what your customer base wants you to stick to.

As for external forces (like changes in market taste), great care is required in altering your product and service offering.

On the one hand, you should never abandon those products and services that made your customers love you and your trademark.

On the other hand, to attract new customers, a business must strike a careful balance in increasing its offerings while staying away from popular causes of the day.

It’s one thing to offer a sugar-free alterative to attract diabetic clients, but it’s very different to change your offerings based on political views and feelings.

Where trademark owners make the mistake of becoming political or preachy, rehabilitation is possible.

Rehabilitation of goodwill usually involves getting back to basics – getting back to the goods and services that made your customers love you in the first place.

Remember the definition of a trademark (above).

Our definition focusses on goods and services your patrons recognize.

Goodwill is critical to a trademark’s success, and should always be front of mind for any business.

When it comes to selling your businesses, ultimately the goodwill will either raise or sink your sale price – it’s your choice.

Visit our Services page to learn more about Pnc IP Group’s Patent services. If you have questions regarding the above, feel free to contact us.

Any patents, trademarks, or technologies referenced in this article are owned by their respective owners.

Questions regarding this article can be directed to Tapas Pain.

Pnc IP Group are licensed lawyers and registered patent and trademark agents with a history of serving the greater York Region and greater Toronto area since 2003.

Pnc IP Group is located in Vaughan, Ontario, and offers in-person visits by appointment.

Call us and book your appointment today, or speak with us by telephone anytime.

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These articles and opinions do not express or constitute legal advice.