The town of Fraser, Colorado lost its fight with the town of International Falls, Minnesota over the trademarked use of the term, Icebox of America. Both towns claim they are the coldest towns in the lower 48 states. International Falls claims to have been using the phrase to describe their town for a longer time. They have photographs of their 1955 Pee Wee Hockey Team with Icebox of the Nation printed on their jackets.
In 1989 International Falls paid Fraser $2,000 to stop using the phrase and Fraser stopped using it. It looked like everything was settled but recently International Falls neglected to renew their patented trademark on the phrase and it briefly slipped into public use. Fraser made a bid for it. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office made a ruling on the dispute and awarded the trademark back to International Falls.
Anyone who has lived in Salida over the past two and a half months might think that they have been living in the coldest spot in America but this legal battle reminds us that there are even colder places! Heck, just think about Leadville, Gunnison, and Alamosa. To the people of those towns Salida must seem like a tropical beach. But to us Salidans who have put up with non-stop snow and ice and wind and brutal cold for the last two and a half months it is hard to see our situation as even remotely resembling a tropical beach. It's all perspective. So it's good to occasionally remind ourselves that we are a banana belt and that there really are colder places. I purchased a bunch of bananas at Safeway yesterday to help remind me of that. They are so beautiful! Just looking at them I am filled with hope and I can feel myself warm up ever so slightly.
Copyright © 2008 by Crazy Eddie. All Rights Reserved.
As a young kid playing "cowboys and Indians," Crazy Eddie always insisted on being an Indian. He wanted to be a chief. Well many, many years later he finally became a chief when he took on the task of being editor-in-chief of Blog Salida
In 1989 International Falls paid Fraser $2,000 to stop using the phrase and Fraser stopped using it. It looked like everything was settled but recently International Falls neglected to renew their patented trademark on the phrase and it briefly slipped into public use. Fraser made a bid for it. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office made a ruling on the dispute and awarded the trademark back to International Falls.
Anyone who has lived in Salida over the past two and a half months might think that they have been living in the coldest spot in America but this legal battle reminds us that there are even colder places! Heck, just think about Leadville, Gunnison, and Alamosa. To the people of those towns Salida must seem like a tropical beach. But to us Salidans who have put up with non-stop snow and ice and wind and brutal cold for the last two and a half months it is hard to see our situation as even remotely resembling a tropical beach. It's all perspective. So it's good to occasionally remind ourselves that we are a banana belt and that there really are colder places. I purchased a bunch of bananas at Safeway yesterday to help remind me of that. They are so beautiful! Just looking at them I am filled with hope and I can feel myself warm up ever so slightly.
Copyright © 2008 by Crazy Eddie. All Rights Reserved.
As a young kid playing "cowboys and Indians," Crazy Eddie always insisted on being an Indian. He wanted to be a chief. Well many, many years later he finally became a chief when he took on the task of being editor-in-chief of Blog Salida
No comments:
Post a Comment