Tiki® is a registered trademark

I ran across this while perusing the web. Maybe next time there's a debate on what is and isn't tiki, we should just ask Lamplight Farms. It seems they have the legal backing to determine the answer. :)

http://www.lamplightfarms.com/copyright.html

Tiki® and “Tiki Torch” are registered trademarks owned by Lamplight Farms, Inc. and are registered at the United State Patent and Trademark Office. The trademark “Tiki Torch” was registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1956 as Reg. No. 639,032 and has been in continual use since 1956. Over time, Lamplight Farms has obtained a family of “Tiki” trademark registrations for a variety of outdoor lamp and torch related products, including but not limited to Reg. Nos. 2,113,834; 2,161,487; and 2,990,350. The Tiki® trademark identifies Tiki® as a brand name which may only be used to designate products manufactured or licensed by Lamplight Farms, Inc. Lamplight Farms will enforce its intellectual property rights to the fullest extent of the law.

my understanding of this kind of law is that they have copyrighted the name in reference to similar products. So it doesn't apply if you were selling a Tiki shirt, mug, statue, etc, but if you were selling a tiki torch, you might have some issues.

..sbim

Do a google search "tiki torch" and there are 218000 hits as of today I dont think they can persue all of them but maybe some hungry lawyer will try someday.

I'm sure a legal argument can be made about 'tiki' being a genericized trademark.

What I do find puzzling, and I think others have brought this up in other threads, is how different mug manufacturers can use the same designs without being sued. Are mug designs in the public domain?

Perhaps Holden can shed light on this.

i think it is if you change one aspect of a design its okay - which makes art and designs very hard to protect

Tiki torches the best surving symbol of tiki (next to tikis themselves), according to some (ok, just me).

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=18845&forum=1

I would not exactly call it "best" surviving, but like I said in the other thread, in the 80s and 90s, when there were NO products out there whatsoever that carried the name Tiki, the only one that did was the TIKI torch, and, from the same company, TIKI string lights. It was a company name, and their typeface was exactly the same than in the old "John Charles Company" Tiki torch ad that's in the Backyard Polynesia chapter in the BOT. So the company that used to be "TIKI" and is now called Lamplight must have bought the trademark and logo from John Charles originally.

"Tiki torch" was the only general term left containing the word "Tiki" which was continually in use even after the abolition of Tiki. As a matter of fact, there were no words like "Tiki style","Tiki drinks", or "Tiki art" back then.

It would be interesting to do a pre-1996 search of WHERE the term Tiki was in use (IN GENERAL) at all...I know of only a few examples, like "Tiki Lounge","Tiki Bar", and "Tiki mugs".

Another nice project would be collecting terms for what "Tiki restaurants" (a recent, new term) and architecture were referred to as back then (in the 50s, 60s and 70s). I again know of only a few, like "Polynesian restaurant","Fu joint", and "Kon-Tiki style".

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2006-08-27 02:25 ]

Hmmmm.
I think I'll file a suit against Hanford and Sven and James... and everybody.
Oh yeah, Wayne Coombs too.

Wait, as a grand member, I could be subject to class-action.

Maybe I'll just have a Navy Grog and spend the afternoon shredding all of my top secret tiki documents.

On 2006-08-27 02:19, bigbrotiki wrote:
So the company that used to be "TIKI" and is now called Lamplight must have bought the trademark and logo from John Charles originally.

Yep. Lamplight Farms is in Menomonee Falls, a suburb of Milwaukee, WI. I've been to the company before for advertising interviews. They own the original "Tiki" logo and any product that falls under that... torch oil, citronella candles, torches. Every year more and more new styles of torch are designed with wicker, bamboo, rattan... etc. Lamplight Farms has a lot of money to play with, and I think they offered up the most to buy the rights to an old company that as bigbro said, wasn't exactly popular inthe 80's and 90's. Now the tiki torch has found it's way into every backyard and mainstream America.

John Charles Co. was the head company, Tiki Torch Co. was a subsidiary. Into the 90s, Tiki Torch Co. was Tiki Torch Co. Only recently did Lamplight Farms, an oil lamp manufacturer, buy them out. And while they may indeed be investing money in them, they junked all the funky vintage-style spun aluminum torches in favor of the cheap bamboo ones, which were already in production at the time by many other companies. They switched the Tiki name onto products identical in style and quality to everything else on the market. In other words, in trying to "match the market", quality and style dropped substantially. The bamboo torches are fine as inexpensive backyard party gear, but they can't compare with the spun aluminum all-metal torches.

On 2006-08-25 16:09, Suffering Bastard in Maine wrote:
my understanding of this kind of law is that they have copyrighted the name in reference to similar products. So it doesn't apply if you were selling a Tiki shirt, mug, statue, etc, but if you were selling a tiki torch, you might have some issues.

..sbim

That's exactly what it is. There is no legitimate case for or law protecting copyrighting of a common language word or phrase in the English language or any other that the person or company in question did not invent themselves and had registered immediately. In this case, the word 'Tiki' is the company's registered logo and is attached to the Tiki torches, Tiki lamp oil and Tiki candles they sell. Start up a company and sell tiki torches and use simply the word 'Tiki' as the slogan, and you'll be into-Rubble. 'Course, it would be very interesting to see such a case play out in court, as the whole thing is rather imbiguous and, quite frankly, ridiculous.

why the signature can not appeare

On 2006-08-25 21:17, john wrote:
i think it is if you change one aspect of a design its okay - which makes art and designs very hard to protect

Nope. That's still considered stealing.

Aloha! I was referred here after I posted about trademark infringement. We manufacture the Malama Torch(TM), and are having to deal with people misrepresenting their torches as Malama Torches(TM). So, I understand both sides. There is no problem with using the term "tiki" to refer to non-torch items. But yes, if they wanted to pursue it, they could make a case against anyone using Tiki(R) or TIki Torch(R) in reference to such products, though it is so common, I think if tested it might be fount to have entered public domain through predominance of use (I think that's the phrase, not sure).

On changing part of a design or logo, the test is can people still mistake it for the "parent" logo. If it could reasonably confuse people as to which is the original, then it is not legal. If the change is significant enough that it will not confuse people it MAY be ok. The exception is satire used in a journalistic setting, or fair use in reporting:

"Kaha Nuhou, the owner of XYZ(R) Company said, 'Blah, blah, blah.'"

"Waha Nui, the owner of XWhyZ Company said, 'Blah, blah, blabitty.'"

This is repeatedly tested in the courts, and so far we are holding the line on the side of fair use, but I fear that as large corporations become ever more powerful, that right may eventually be overturned.

Our family actually calls the torches lu'au torches. I only started hearing them called tiki torches in the late 80s or early 90s.

If the founders or a person who was around that you could ask about
the start of your company are able you should ask them about
the early years of your business.

I bet you find out that the reason or one of the reasons you don't see them called tiki torches™
by other companies is the registered trademarks owned by Lamplight Farms™.
This may be why yours are called torches lu'au.

Would be interesting to find out.

But then The OSU university here has registered trademarks on the F-ing Buckeye leaf™, Buckeye nut™,
A block "O"™.
How can you own the trademark to a dam tree or a letter of the alphabet.

Your style of light is your own and I would say hard to copy.
You have some very cool products in your torches lu'au™ line.
You could start a thread about your company and include some photos of your products
and info here on TC.
Many times people look for tiki things on line and do a search for say tiki lighting
and come up on Tikicentral and this could lead them to your lights as well.

A good thread title might be like this....
Malama Torch(TM) Tiki torches for your Home, patio and deck. Hawaiian style tropical light, lighting.

You need catch words that would be used in a search for your products as people may not know
of your company name, think of these words as bait.

Plus it's fun to hear of an old company as yours that is in the biz of tiki.

Good luck!
But then you don't need luck as you have been around for 50 years but it can't hurt.

See this post is already online if you do a search for Malama Torch.
You do have a lot of your products come up on line though as it is, and
that's good.

Tiki Torch Trademarks -- Tiki Central
http://www.tikicentral.com › Tiki Central Forums › General Tiki
1 day ago - 5 posts - ý2 authors
Malama Torch(TM), Malama Torches(TM), Malama Style(TM), and Malama Uila(TM) all are trademarks which belong to our `ohana, originally ...

¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸ TIKISKIP™ "Go to the light"© ¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨•.¸¸¨

Lights for home and
commercial TIKI bars.

On 2015-06-25 10:35, Leilehua wrote:
Aloha! I was referred here after I posted about trademark infringement.

Trademark and Copyright are two separate things. I know it sounds like nitpicking, but each has its own set of rules, protections, and enforcement options so it is important to keep them separate and treat them separately.

Tiki Brand Torches is both a Copyright and a Trademark so it does get confusing.

And the little dark secret of both is this: It is up to the Copyright or Trademark owner to enforce. You can copyright or trademark something but if you don't actively enforce your ownership then it is very easy for the courts to decide that you have voluntarily allowed your ownership to quit moving it into the public domain.

If you don't at least send cease-and-desist letters to those trying to copy you then it doesn't take too very long before everyone is doing it and you wind up losing any control you might have had.

Especially these days where the laws and General rules only apply to some people.
So if the people in charge of making sure folks follow the laws or rules
don't care to enforce them or selectively enforce, Well your screwed.

OSU is on it.
They don't mess around.
They even got on Michael J. Fox for wearing an OSU shirt on Family Ties.
Our friend had a Buckeye leaf on his mowing biz truck and they made him take it off,
I think it was more of a pot leaf though, OSU does not know the difference.

I checked Google and found that the confusion between the Ohio State buckeye leaf and a pot leaf is not uncommon. I considered posting one of the Google images here, but didn't because I'm afraid that OSU would show up at Hanford's home at 3am in the morning and demand that the image be removed from his servers.

The idea that you could copyright a natural item is strange. I'm guessing that what OSU is defending is their specific depiction or artwork, and not just any photo or drawing of a buckeye leaf.

This is good stuff for all artists to understand and be aware of. Some day I may come to make and sell some sort of tiki aweseomeness that you just cannot live without, and this knowledge will come in very handy. (Tiki toilet paper, anyone???)

Everyone should believe in something. I believe I'll have another drink!

Aloha TikiSkip! Mahalo for the great advice and info! Yes, my Dad, the founder and creator of Malama Torches is still very much around. And at 85, he is still active, creating, welding, and giving us lots of advice on the metalworking.

In Hilo, which has a patois all its own, we called them lu'au torches because they were used at lu'au. We used to make them by putting a roll of toilet paper in a coffee can and pouring just enough kerosene to saturate the roll. At dark, you light them, and they burn long enough that when the last one goes out, you know it's time to go home!

My Daddy! We spent Father's Day watching golf with him.

[ Edited by: Leilehua 2015-06-27 01:58 ]

That is a great photo of your dad!

Mahalo!

Bob Roman, owner of Fire by Design (firebydesign.com) called me this morning. They will be correcting the ton names on the website. Nice guy. It turns out the problematic web page was just a confusion between our trademark and another company's - Malumai vs Malama. Mahalo to the TC folks who passed on the great advice and encouragement in getting this straightened out!
~Leilehua

[ Edited by: Leilehua 2015-06-29 10:13 ]

Leilehua, I also agree, that's a great photo of your dad! Be sure you get some photos of him doing some metalwork, and also standing with some of his creations. I'm sure as the years go by you'll appreciate seeing "the creator" alongside his creations. Also, have him sign some of his originals and his "models" which he may have around. Those will be very special pieces for family members.

Christmas and birthday gift giving might be very easy at your home! :)

Mahalo!

We actually have great documentation of Dad through his career. I even have some of his school work, and photos of the murals he did at Pearl Harbor in the dive tank and the mess hall. Ultimate Tiki! I'll be starting a retrospective of his work on our website some time next year.

It's not easy to talk him out of his works, but every so often I succeed. Just managed to get this fire pit in May! The top actually hangs from three chains about 2 ft above the body. We are refurbishing my grandmother's tiki bar, and this will be on the lanai. I'll post pix when we are pau.

You can see more images of the show where I displayed this at malama.leimanu.com.

[ Edited by: Leilehua 2015-06-29 12:30 ]

Leilehua, again, thank you for more nice photos on the web site you shared. That is a very interesting exhibit! And that fire pit, over 50 years old, must have been very interesting to attendees. Also, it's very good to hear that you've been able to document your father's work through the years. He is talented.