The brand has not yet been crossed out at the time of writing this piece . That almost certainly means that they are still 'appealing'. But I fear the worst for Dealerdirect, because having a perfect market survey done now that gives a higher score is too late. After all, you can no longer ask a few years later what the interviewees in 2017 would have thought of when they heard the slogan 'ikwilvanmijnautoaf'.
2020: Slogan wordmark becomes slogan image mark. Does it help? No!
I suspect that Dealerdirect itself also fears the worst. In April 2020, it packaged its slogan in a logo and registered it as a trademark .
Source: Trademark Register
But that won't help Dealerdirect. lebanon telegram data Judges have said so often that you can't protect the words of something that can't be a word mark through the back door of adding a picture. The judiciary has probably even made a text block of that ground for rejection.
Compensation for trademark infringement of slogan?
What should you as a marketer or your client do with this information? Moral of the story: don't immediately jump to attention (and get stressed) when the 'owner' of a descriptive slogan shouts 'trademark infringement' and 'damages'.
Do find a specialized lawyer immediately, who can immediately 'prick' points like the one that Dealerdirect went under. The questioning in market research is always a grateful subject to shoot at, as was the case here.
Protecting a Slogan = Doing Market Research
If you are on the other side and you want to register your 'established' descriptive slogan as a trademark, do that market research before the filing. Market research is an expensive joke, so if you do it, do it right. Otherwise a decent judge or lawyer will make mincemeat of it. And then the market research, the filing and the costs of the procedure are wasted money. What's more, the loser will also have to pay the other party's bill.
