The recent dispute over the Home Barista iPhone application reminded me of unfinished business: Getting an official trademark registration for HB. I've relied on trademark common law rights, but there are benefits to having the real deal from the USPTO. A lawyer friend warned me that it won't be easy because "Home Barista" is too descriptive. However, he says there's a good chance of success if I can show evidence that it has achieved secondary meaning in the public mind that specifically identifies the words with this website. Google hits, magazine references, book citations, news shows, and blogs can add weight to the argument that HB has reached this threshold.

So what, my to-do list includes applying for trademark, why am I posting it here?

Because I am asking for your help to find noteworthy references to HB. The thread HB in the news gives examples. If you've seen others I've overlooked or are particularly skilled at searching the web, please post a link and short excerpt of your finding. As a small gesture of gratitude, the member posting the most unique "HB spotting" entries will receive a Caffe Fresco Three Bagger, courtesy of long-time HB supporter Tony Sciandra.

Active bloggers with at least a year's history can nominate their blog by adding a link to HB on their homepage and posting the link here with a short excerpt of the blog's raison-d'être. As with the HB spotting thank you above, active bloggers linking to HB and posting to this thread will be entered into a drawing for another Three Bagger from Caffe Fresco.

The post below is an example...

Not Your Ordinary Cup Of Joe by Bernard Rudny, McGill Tribune

Leduc describes Caffè in Gamba's approach to coffee as "a little more spontaneous" than Myriade's, though he adds, "we did our homework as well." But if Leduc is a student, Dan Kehn is one of coffee's mad scientists.

Remember your friend back in high school who could list every recording that Brian Eno ever made? Kehn is like that, only with espresso. A software engineer from North Carolina, he's also the founder of Home-Barista.com-one of the largest online coffee communities.

Kehn's enthusiasm is contagious. Listening to him speak, I realize that he has probably put more time and effort into studying coffee than I have put into my undergraduate degree-and I'm jealous. Benda, Leduc, and Rao are professional baristas, but Kehn has brought the third wave into his kitchen.

Home-Barista.com draws several thousand visitors every day. It's the second-largest coffee website around, and Kehn has a particular audience: "My site is targeted towards-in fact, it says on Wikipedia-'espresso fanatics.' That's what it says, and there's a lot of truth in that."

Dan, is it significant that Google produces this site as the first two hits when Home Barista is searched? And why does this spell check red-flag barista?

Appearing on Google's page 1 for important keywords is significant. For example, HB is currently position #6 on page 1 for "espresso". However appearing on Google's page 1 for the site name itself is no great feat. To qualify as an HB spotting, it must be a sighting beyond search engine results.

You're google top ten for "home espresso," and for this in combination with "hobby," "expensive," "commercial," etc

I'm not suggesting you do this; but I think the logical standard is the commercial value of the name should you sell the domain and accompanying rights. By this standard, the high listings would have a good deal of value were the name protected.

Hi Dan,

AFAIK, Trade Mark registration either takes place under the domestic law of a country or through all countries through the Madrid convention (think $$$). Where do you intend to register the mark? Do you know if web pages outside that jurisdiction (or those jurisdictions) count for the purposes of establishing secondary meaning/reputation?

Cheers,

Luca

In today's Internet-connected world, I would expect that any noteworthy reference counts towards establishing secondary meaning. I plan on registering with the US Patent & Trademark Office; if that goes well, then I'll look into registration outside the US.

HB wrote:A lawyer friend warned me that it won't be easy because . . .

Don't look at me -- all we do is Criminal Defense! We're here to help, but hopefully you'll never need us!

A quick search turned up this publication from a couple years back...

Joe at home: Tips on how to become your own private barista by Shayne Stambler, Honolulu Weekly

Abraham Lincoln once quipped, 'If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.' If you share a passion for a good cuppa with our 16th president, then Honolulu Weekly has some resources you might wish to check out.

<snip>

There are a great many espresso machines available, and perhaps the best resources for information on them would be sites like [www.home-barista.com] or [www.coffeegeek.com]. Here you can find reviews and recommendations on various machines from the people that own them.

The dmoz open directory project is the mother of all directories, seeding the search engine of Yahoo, Google, MSN, and others. It's considered an authority because all entries are approved by category editors and they are reputedly very, very stringent. HB has been listed there for a few years:

http://www.dmoz.org/Recreation/Fo...k/Coffee/Espresso/