1904 Allegheny Set

[Archive]

Posted By: Hal Lewis

(NOTE: I do NOT practice Patent Law, but I have hired an attorney recently to trademark something for me.)

I beg to differ with you guys about the "Registered" date being printed on the cards.

The way it works legally when you want to Trademark something is like this:

1) You come up with an idea, like a slogan that you want to put on a billboard. You want to Trademark it... but you also want to start using it ASAP... and the Trademark process takes forever.

2) So... you APPLY for the Trademark... which is called "REGISTERING"... and you record the date on which you "Registered" for your Trademark or Patent.

3) Now, you can start USING your slogan on billboards with a "Registered On..." date that shows everyone that you have APPLIED for a Trademark and that they had BETTER NOT copy you. If they do, then they will have to STOP as soon as your Patent is approved.

4) As long as nobody else has an earlier "REGISTERED ON" date... then your Trademark will be the one that WINS in the end. (In other words, if someone else "registers" the same slogan as you, but does it 3 weeks later... then YOU will win the Patent, regardless of whether their paperwork review process is faster than yours or not.)

SO........

This means that the Alleghany Card Company printed the one set of cards with a "Registered On" date on them, which was probably the exact same day they printed them... and which was also probably the exact same day that they mailed or carried them in to the Patent/Trademark office and APPLIED for a Trademark.

My guess is that the Trademark office DENIED their application on the basis that the subject was TOO BROAD to Trademark, or that the Alleghany Company had no ability to patent and profit the likenesses of professional baseball players.

However... it could also mean that the Alleghany Card company printed 100,000 sets of these cards, and that is why they were so WORRIED about being copied that they put the "REGISTERED" date on the front to keep other people from copying their idea.

The ONLY thing to disprove this possibility is that only ONE set of these cards has ever surfaced. Could there have been 99,999 other sets printed? Yes, absolutely.

Have they shown up anywhere in the past 99 years? NO.