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Nasir and Matt cap off the week by discussing rebranding strategies (pizza related). They then answer the question, "At what point can I file an intent to use trademark?" Full Podcast Transcript NASIR: All right, welcome to our business podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to ask@legallysoundsmartbusiness.com. My name is Nasir Pasha. MATT: And I’m Matt Staub. NASIR: And we are talking about the best topic in the entire world. MATT: Yeah, pizza. NASIR: Pizza. If this is your first time joining us on the podcast, this is a popular topic of ours. MATT: Yeah, it’s definitely tapered off some. I feel like, the beginning, it was every other episode. NASIR: Yeah. I mean, well, the main issue started with the concept of whether sauce or crust is better, or what makes the pizza right, and you were in the crust camp and I was in the sauce camp. MATT: I still am. NASIR: And the reason it tapered down is it just became well-established that it was the sauce so it became a non-issue, right? MATT: I wouldn’t go that far. My wife agrees with me and she loves marinara sauce more than pretty much anyone. So, she’s a very huge sauce person, but knows that crust is more important than the sauce. NASIR: Actually, I spoke to my wife and she also agrees with me which is, I guess, not unusual. So, I guess it’s a tie. So, two versus two so far and that’s about as far as we’ve got. MATT: So, we’re going to talk about the rebranding with Pizza Hut and, I guess, the legal aspects of rebranding. But I think we were just looking for a reason to talk about pizza again because it’s been a while and I’ve actually seen some commercials, they’re doing a whole new re-launch; new logo, of course, which isn’t too different than the old one, I guess. But there’s an old logo of a guy holding the words “Pizza” and “Hut.” That must have been, like, an original. It’s a pretty weird one. NASIR: This new logo is just this flat design that has been pretty well-established in the last – I don’t know – I would say at least five years, even more. And they’re a little late to the game. I mean, flat design is, like, pretty well-established. MATT: Well, I think it’s supposed to look like a pizza because it’s a circle. NASIR: Yeah, it is round. MATT: And then, like, the crust. NASIR: It looks like the sauce actually. MATT: Yeah. NASIR: Doesn’t it? No, I’m serious. It’s like red sauce. MATT: Yeah, it’s either that or, like, the white lines, like, along the edge on the inside could be where the crust and sauce divide. I don’t know. NASIR: I think it’s the sauce. I mean, that’s what they’re focusing on because it’s more important. MATT: Well, we’ll see. NASIR: Actually, look, they actually promoted; they’ve rebranded with a logo inspired by a swirl of pizza sauce. MATT: Oh, okay. Well, I guess that’s why they’re doing their new pizzas as well as all the sauces that were, like, anything else had a regular marinara or spiraled around the pizza. The classic example, BBQ Chicken is barbecue sauce base but now it’s just nothing – just cheese and the toppings. NASIR: And then, they put the sauce on top? MATT: Yeah, swirled around. NASIR: Wait. They do that where? MATT: San Diego, I’ve seen it a bunch of times. NASIR: Oh, really? MATT: Yeah. NASIR: I’ve never seen that actually. MATT: The spot that I lived when we first moved here and I lived right by had it and I’ve seen it at a bunch of locations. It’s very popular. I don’t know why and I’m trying to think, they might do the same thing in some places in New York. NASIR: They were showing pictures of their pizzas with the spiral sauce, I thought that might be something that they can trademark. But it looks like other pizza places do that all the time. MATT: Oh, yeah, they’re definitely not the first ones. Again, Pizza Hut is way, way behind the game in terms of coming up with something new.