Web site targets the new millennium
Thursday saw the launch of a site called Millennium321.com, which says it has trademarked itself as "The Official Web Site of the Third Millenium."
The site hawks a variety of products, from cloisonné pins to T-shirts to certificates, all bearing a logo that has been trademarked as "The Official Symbol of the New Millennium."
The company plans to license the symbol -- and thereby, the cachet of "The Future" -- to big corporations and consumer product manufacturers.
This was all dreamed up by a few guys working in the Detroit-area advertising and graphic design industry.
"If you submit for the trademark, it's yours," said James Iacobucci, one of the managing partners in M321 LLC, and owner of ad firm Iacobucci and Co. in the Detroit area. "There's no foundation that grants you this; it's just whoever comes up with the idea first."
He said he had had no trouble getting the "Official Symbol" and the site, as well as a slew of other "New Millennium"-related phrases and symbols, approved by the federal government.
According to observers, M321 is a type of company made possible by the rise of licensing, together with the rise of e-commerce. Nowadays, you don't need any intellectual property or even a storefront to start a business; all you need is a marketing idea and an Internet account.
Legal analysts were dubious, however, about M321's claim to such phrases as "The Official Web Site of the New Millennium."
"Something that is purely descriptive is not protected [by trademark laws]," said Rich Gray, an intellectual property partner with Bergeson, Eliopoulos, Grady & Gray. "That 'Official Symbol of the New Millenium' sounds totally and completely descriptive."
He suggested M321 might be vulnerable to a false-advertising suit, such as the one Barnes & Noble recently launched against online bookstore Amazon.com for its use of the phrase "The Largest Bookstore on Earth."
But that hasn't stopped others from getting in on the rush to license the next thousand years. Miller Brewing Co. has applied to become the New Millennium's official beer, and M&M's are looking to be the new era's official candy.