Edible Arrangements®, owners of the Edible brand, operate the domain name FreshFruit.com. The company filed an application for the registration of the matching mark, FRESHFRUIT.com, at the USPTO.
The application was filed with an intent to use clause, for the following services:
Fresh fruit cut into flower shapes and coated with chocolate; chocolate covered fruit; fruit coated in caramel sauce; fresh processed fruits at least partially coated with chocolate, cinnamon, or caramel sauce – Fresh fruit; gift baskets of fresh fruits
In 1999, Tariq Farid founded the first Edible Arrangements store in East Haven, Connecticut.
Very often, a trademark application filed with an intent to use clause might indicate a recent domain sale, if a domain is involved.
In this case, our research shows that the domain FreshFruit.com, a 2000 registration, was acquired by Edible Arrangements in 2012, via the Uniregistry platform. Edible Arrangements used another company as a “proxy” buyer, Netsolace. FreshFruit.com appears to have moved in their possession by April 17, 2012.
There are no records of the sale on NameBio. FreshFruit.com was owned by Netincome Ventures Inc. operated by Garry Chernoff, Frank Schilling’s domain business mentor. A decade later, the company files for the mark’s registration. 🙂
Why was FRESHFRUIT.COM applied for as a trademark at the USPTO?
It’s an ongoing trend among owners of generic domain names, following the decision by SCOTUS on the Booking.com trademark application.
Since then, dozens of generic domain names have been applied to be registered as trademarks, inclusive of the TLD.
As of January 5th, 2021, BOOKING.COM is a registered trademark with the USPTO.
Will these applications become the new norm? Watch this video from NamesCon Online 2020.
