The Wall Street Journal featured an article about goats and trademark law yesterday. The story described legal battles launched by the family-owned Al Johnson Restaurant in Sister Bay, Wisconsin. The restaurant has a sod roof and features roof-grazing goats in its advertising. Apparently people come from quite a distance to eat a meal there and marvel at the animals overhead.
Fourteen years ago, the restaurant trademarked its use of goats on the roof to attract customers. When another restaurant in Georgia also employed elevated ungulates, the Wisconsinites sued. The manager of the Georgia restaurant is quoted in the Wall Street Journal calling the lawsuit “ridiculous”, but a settlement was reached and now a fee is paid by the Georgia company for the use of the surprisingly successful Roofgoat marketing strategy.
For those in goat-based industries, this line lifted from the story is a chilling reminder of what is at stake.
Any business that sells food and uses goats to lure customers may be violating the trademark, says Lori Meddings, the restaurant’s lawyer. “The standard is, is there a likelihood of confusion?” she says.
I guess if you’ve seen one goat standing on a restaurant roof, you feel like you’ve seen them all. The lines that separate one goat boasting establishment from another may blur. Mass confusion reigns! How in the world can one remember the rules that govern how they are and are not supposed to exploit their goats?
Perhaps a rhyming law is required!
Goats are good and even great if you’ve a grassy roof.
To trim the gables, eagerly they’ll lift up haunch and hoof.
But if you run a business don’t use goats to sell the food,
For restaurants with Roofgoats are quite regularly sued.
The thought of Roofgoat legal suits inclines some folks to laughter,
But many, many people eat where goat treads over rafter.
Perhaps a legal remedy would just involve some switchin’.
Put all the cooks up on the roof and goats down in the kitchen.
What would you trademark, if you could?
Trail Baboon 
where do you find these stories, Dale? pretty cool. and great poem.
i can’t believe that the goats haven’t sued both restaurants for making them sit up on the roof with only grass all day! that’s more a job for sheep. if someone puts other animals on the roof, would that be a violation? mini-cows? oooooh, i wouldn’t want to be under looking up even at a mini-cow. plop, plop. i wonder how they keep the goat pellets from rolling off the roof onto the customers?
but to the question: i’d trademark nothing – haven’t come up with anything that original and especially anything that i made money on 🙂
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Rise and Shine Babooners:
This is where things get murky for me. I’m never sure what the difference is among a trademark, a patent, and a copyright. I know a patent is for an invention, a copyright is for something written or an image, but where does a trademark fit in the picture? Definition please? I thought a trademark was like an image or logo that represents the company. Can you trademark a living thing? Just trying to wrap my head around this before I decide on a trademark.
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I think you can trademark a copyrighted item, but not vice versa? And there is a difference between a standard trademark and a registered trademark, legally – at my old job we had to be very careful about how we used the TM and (R) symbols (can’t get the coding to work for the circled R), as a company could slap a TM on things, but needed specific legal filings to use the R, and once they did they could get fussy about how that name or image was used (it generally was a name or image associated with a product).
What would I trademark? Nothing. I’m with Barb in Blackhoof on that. But also because that’s just how I roll. I don’t think there is a need to “own” a name or image (though I am not a multi-national, or multi-goat, operation – maybe that would make a difference). I’m more of a Creative Commons kinda gal, I think, should I ever have need of such a thing.
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cool organization, Anna – thanks! i like the idea of sharing rather than trademarking or copyrighting – most of the time. i know a woman who puts a little “c” for copyright at the bottom of most of her emails. hmmm.
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Ditto. That is cool. I can’t really think of anything to trademark that is “My Brand” either. I guess I don’t think that way. But sharing and reusing–very nice.
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Way to go Anna! The whole business of businesses trademarking common sense practices reminds me of a child clutching a toy to his or her chest, weeping and refusing to share. I’m all about sharing good ideas, not threatening others who might want to use them. And when the idea has qualities favorable to the environment, it seems all the more sensible to share the concept.
Oh, the things lawyers have done to our society!
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What I like about it is that you can post things there for others to use within whatever parameters you set, from wide open to not. Best: you could use the site to post your work for others to use, but reserve the right to not let them make money off your work. And it’s a whole lot easier than figuring out copyright law and what restrictions that places on your work.
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Reminds me of my college …They built the library into the hill and grew grass on the roof. It was lovely until the ceiling caved in thanksto water and mud.
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I hope they got the books out before the roof went – soggy paper is not a good thing.
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not a strong architecture dept eh
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i think i would trade a blog with a poem
to start out each day as you wake
before you get thinking and let your mind roam
you must craft words to a poem make
then trademark your thought and become the big dog
of the poem writers start of the day
and if someone else tries to start up a poem blog
have them handcuffed and then hauled away.
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now i’m beginning to worry about the goats. why aren’t there some weeds for them to eat? is that sod poisoned with spray? or has Dale been up there digging the dandelions????
do the goats have health care? do they get to come down at night? is there shelter from rain/snow? do they get brushed and petted regularly? does anyone notice if they have pink eye or bloat? how do they trim their hooves? do they have a source of good music?
oh dear.
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Barb The last time I was in Sister Bay, I bought an ice cream cone for $5, and that was 20 years ago. It is a spendy little tourist town. Those goats, I’m sure, are coddled and spoiled.
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al johnsons is a wonderful place and the goats are well tended. no hardship there. the roof is about 20 x 40 on each side and the tourist appeal came as a secondary consideration and the delightful response makes the restaurant experience better. the are like dalai lama .goats. well loved
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i think i would trade a blog with a poem
to start out each day as you wake
before you get thinking and let your mind roam
you must craft your words to a poem make
then trademark your thought and become the big dog
of the poem writers start of the day
and if someone else tries to start up a poem blog
have them handcuffed and haul them away.
revised for the poem writers blog
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I remember going to that restaurant in Sister Bay! Its been absolute eons, though, and I wouldn’t have even thought of it if Dale hadn’t mentioned it. I, too, wouldn’t want a trademark. The snow we had last night prompted me to put in my orders for fall and Christmas baking ingredients. It didn’t freeze very hard. Its more like all the plants got put in the fridge overnight, and now everything is a sloppy mess as the snow melts. The front yard vegetable plot was put in on Thursday and it looks great.
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I was just downstairs feeding the cats and they informed me that trademarks are very important to them, as confusion between brands can be very upsetting. They drew my attention to my error in purchasing Science Diet Mature Cat Active Longevity Cat Food instead of their usual Science Diet Mature Cat Indoor Cat Food. The difference is great, they assure me, and if I know what’s good for me I won’t make the same mistake again.
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BOL 🙂
(burst out laughing)
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I would go for a copyright instead. Three words ” Wash, Rinse, Repeat”
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