Hucklebug Episode 192: Freeform formatless Hucklebug! Hucklebug Business, RIP Edith Shaine, shout-outs, Five Things I Can Grab From Where I’m Sitting, dress code, shoes, Bet’s high/lowlight story, movies (Stennie: Up in the Air, Kickin’ It; Bet: Cat Ballou), Arrested Development, Fuck offs & You Rules.
Music: “The Hucklebuck,” performed by Otis Redding, Lee Rocker, and Frank Sinatra.
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What can I grab from my desk?
1. 2 DVDs – one is Lewis Black, Stark Raving Black ( good if you haven’t seen it) and Collapse
2. A PC Game, Red Alert 3
3. A Degen portable short wave radio
4. A nasty old toothbrush I use to clean PC parts
5. A bottle of spray eyeglass cleaner
You-all isn’t as common in the deep south as people think. It’s more of an Appalachian term I heard in Ky, Wva, and Va. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll hear it here too but maybe not as often as yankees think. It’s usually pronounced yawl. People in the south are more fond of carrying people than yawling. As in I carried my wife to the store or I carried my kids to school only they never use “my”. It’s always “the”. I carried the wife or the kids. You don’t have to establish ownership when you’re the only person on earth. Well, the only one that counts anyway.
More common than yawl are the insulting welcomes. The most popular is “What you up to? No good? but they say it real fast without punctuation so it comes out, What you up to no good? Ha ha, they just called you no good and there’s nothing you can do about it. How amazingly witty huh? It ranks right up there with “you got that right” as if they are the sole arbiter of all things right or wrong in the world. I guess someone made them Pope while I wasn’t looking but I’m glad they blessed my corectness. Imagine how crushed I’d be if they didn’t.
Stennie getting hucklebug burnout? Putting together a podcast every week is a lot of work. I hope the 2 weeks off helps you recover.
I think ThePete and company would make a great guest host. I’ll be tuned in if he decides to do it.
Kellie (with an ie) and I are rolling through the hills of Colorado enjoying the Hucklebug when suddenly I’m being called a big fat dumb stupid person for being a customer of Living XL.
I many times have stood when I would rather have been seated because I wasn’t sure that a chair would hold me. Living XL rules for having chairs that I know will hold me (and possibly the rest of the family). Living XL rules for having chairs wide enough for my big fat dumb stupid ass to fit in without the arms gouging into my thighs. Living XL rules!!
Next time, just as you are dropping your ass into a Wally World $9.95 folding lawn chair, ask yourself, “Are these thin wire legs and this one-ply canvas going to hold me or am I going to end up on the ground in a twisted wire heap, embarrassed as hell and waving a one-ply flag of surrender”?
This whole Hot Pockets “Eat Free(ly)” thing is a good opportunity to illustrate the (often misunderstood) difference between copyright and trademark protection. (It’s also the basis of a highly effective rationalization for listening to and commenting on the podcast when I should be studying for the bar, because, hey, I’m analyzing legal issues . . . right? Anyway . . . ) Copyright protects expression, but you can’t copyright single words or short phrases like titles or tag lines. You could probably copyright a haiku or a limerick (assuming you could prove that you are the actual author of it), but that’s pretty much the lower limit of protectable expression. That’s where trademark protection takes over, but only where the holder/creator of the mark can show use in commerce and actionable confusion.
The problem with your case against Hot Pockets isn’t so much the difference between Eat Free and Eat Freely (more on that in a moment) as the fact that you haven’t established your exclusive trademark rights in that mark. And even if you had, there’s probably enough separation between your services (podcast programs) and their goods (disgusting microwavable processed “food” encased in hydrogenated-oil envelopes) to obviate a likelihood of consumer confusion as to the source of the aforementioned nasty-ass goo bags. In other words, when a consumer hears or sees Eat Freely on a Hot Pockets box, they’re not likely to think, “Hey, is the Hucklebug selling processed-yak goo-bags? I’m a longtime, loyal HB listener, so I gotta get me some of that.”
To establish exclusive rights in a trademark, it’s necessary to use it in commerce (i.e., on or in connection with one’s goods or services) such that consumers associate that mark with the goods or services of the putative mark holder. The most effective way to do that is to apply for and secure federal registration of the mark, which is indicated by a ® symbol. However, it is also possible to assert common-law trademark rights, using the ™ symbol. The key, in either case, is that you have to actually USE the mark in commerce to obtain rights in it.
Once you’ve registered a mark or used it in commerce and achieved a sufficient degree of association between that mark and your goods, you can bring an infringement action against anyone whose subsequent use of that mark creates a likelihood of confusion as to the actual source of the goods. So, for example, if you had used Eat Free in connection with Hucklebug services (as a tag line, say) such that listeners associated that with, and use it to identify, the Hucklebug experience, you would have established an exclusive trademark right in that mark, subject to certain limitations.
When a court is trying to determine if a subsequent or junior use of a mark creates a likelihood of confusion, it weighs several factors, including: the overall strength of the mark (how recognizable and well known it is); the proximity or similarity of the goods in channels of commerce; and the similarity between the plaintiff’s and defendant’s marks.
In this case, Eat Free and Eat Freely are actually similar enough in sound, meaning, and appearance that the mere difference of the –ly would not get Hot Pockets off the hook—but only if the other factors weighed in your favor, which, unfortunately, they don’t. Eat Free is not very strong (as a mark associated with Hucklebug podcasts), and, more damning, there is too much of a gulf between podcasts and deep-fried goo bags for a court to find that consumers would be confused by similar marks used for both.
Hm—I’ll have to talk to Siskita about guest hosting…
Hey, I don’t own my favorite Pixar movie either. Weird…
Bet, you describe why I don’t like all that surgery stuff. YUCK…
There’s your topic—shower door or shower curtain?
I like doors, but curtains allow me to be more creative. There are lots of weird and cool shower curtains out there. What would you ladies like on a shower curtain?
They have gray tack now and it works fine. I love gray tack.
I hate the word “slacks.”
I did zone out during the shoe convo.
…and during Bet’s drinking story… though I did regain focus when things started to go south 🙁
I am saddened that the Hucklebug prize of a Tupperware container of puke is nothing we can look forward to :(((( super-sad-face!
Congratulations on the diet and activity, Bet!! One day at a time sounds like a good plan to me. And don’t beat yourself up if things don’t go exactly right.
Hey, I forgot to ask—Bet, have you thought about putting together a DVD of all of your videos?
Duke and I differ on the Y’all thing—I have an aunt and uncle in Texas that taught me that word. They say it all the time. But maybe Texas isn’t considered the “deep” south?
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Duke!
Man does Mr. Middlebrow have a way with that legalese! I actually understood most of his comment! And frankly, calling them “goo-bags” really only enhances their appeal to me, despite my generally healthy-eating habits (except when I’m near Skooby’s or Shake Shack).