This post is the first in what I hope will be a series chronicling observations gleaned from vacations.  As every good trademark lawyer knows, work doesn’t end just because you’re dining and relaxing and away from the office.  No, the commercial world relentlessly intrudes everywhere, giving food for thought, car conversations, and blog fodder.

This past weekend’s jaunt to Santa Rosa and Northern California wine country had plenty of good stuff.  Our hands’-down favorite was the pair of stores in Santa Rosa called “The Place that Sells Vacuums” and “The Place that Sells Sewing Machines.”  Succinct, no?  I like it when a business just says “we don’t care about a protectable name, we just want people to know what we do.” 

Loved, loved, loved the name of this Berkeley-based outdoor equipment store: “Any Mountain.”  This one has to be my new favorite example of a suggestive mark.

With lots of wine-tasting as the focus of the weekend, there was of course lots to think about on the wine naming front.  Is it a coincidence that our two favorite wines of the trip were Nalle and Jarvis?  Polar opposites in terms of physical plant and ambiance, yet branded with the owners’ surnames, so that the owners’ imprimaturs are inescapable – the visit experiences and wines were memorable and the wines now populate our cellar.  Perhaps there’s something to be said for less focus on branding sometimes.[1]

Let’s see, what else?  A great bumper sticker: “Copulate, don’t populate.”  Speaks for itself, I’d say.  A veterinary establishment on the way to the Oakland airport called “Citizen Canine."

In any event, a weekend away was just too little time.  I must need a longer vacation for more fodder!  Stay tuned . . .