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ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER
Abelman, Frayne, &Schwab
This Week In Intellectual Property History for September 5-11, 2010
On September 7, 1954, Sears, Roebuck & Co. received a registration for their own brand of washers and dryers:
The KENMORE name first appeared on a Sears sewing machine in 1913. By 1995, 6 out of every 10 homes in America had at least one KENMORE appliance. Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck, who founded the Company, would be proud.
Richard Sears had started in business with the R.W. Sears Watch Co. He hired watchmaker Alvah Roebuck to fix watches that were returned by customers. Roebuck became a trusted colleague and the two founded a new business, Sears Roebuck & Co. in 1886. Roebuck's contribution to the corporation was short-lived, however, and due to personal considerations he sold his share of the company to Sears in 1895 for $25,000. Sears died in 1913.
On September 8, 1970, Mattel, Inc. received a registration for its emblem:
Mattel got its name from the names of its founders, Harold "Matt" Mattson and Elliot "El" Handler. The company started in Handler's garage in Hawthorne, California in 1945 making picture frames. Elliot's wife Ruth began making doll house furniture from picture frame scraps and these proved very popular. Matson soon sold out to the Handlers. Seeing more chance of success with the doll house furniture than with the picture frames, the Handlers decide to focus on the toy market. They came out with a toy ukulele called the Uke-a-Doodle. It was a hit and they expanded to other toy instruments.
The company grew slowly for the next decade. But Mattel didn't hit the big time until 1958 when Ruth Handler designed a doll named after her daughter Barbara. The Barbie doll was introduced the next year and was immediately a phenomenon. Ruth and Elliot had another child, Ken. His doll was introduced in 1961. The company promoted a romance story line between their two main dolls and they were soon married. But the happy couple's romance hit hard times when Barbie announced through her press secretary on February 12, 2004 that she and Ken were splitting up. According to a prepared statement the two "were going their separate ways" but "they would remain friends."
The original Barbie
