"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." -Shakespeare
A Shakespeare quote could ever so delicately suggest that a name characterizes across the board with no individualized factors belonging to any particular name at all. Can you say the same about your popcorn? Is all Chicago Mix® the same? I think not. People of the world, don't be fooled by todays' market, believe it or not, the only real Chicago Mix® is produced and brought to you by yours truly, Candyland of Minnesota. Candyland will continue to preserve the integrity of Chicago Mix® by bringing you...
THE TRUTH ABOUT CHICAGO MIX®
Some impulses and ideas are purely golden. When Candyland co-owner Brenda Lamb first mixed our signature seasoned popcorn, caramel popcorn and cheddar cheese popcorn, the result was magical. Candyland offered mixes for our customers upon request for decades prior to 1988 but began our Chicago Mix® branding journey and displaying Chicago Mix® in 1988! Today our Chicago Mix® popcorn is a top seller and a taste sensation that brings devotees back again and again. Don’t be fooled: We own the trademark and have successfully defended it! Our product is authentic.
#OftenMimickedNeverDuplicated
All our varieties of popcorn have their unique charms. We use only the finest, 100% natural ingredients and air-pop our corn and cooked to perfection. Visit any of our stores and you’ll get a glorious whiff of why that matters. We make our Chicago Mix® popcorn fresh all day long, stirred together for each customer right on site. For many loyal Candyland customers, there is nothing quite as magical as this unique mix of fresh flavors. Is your mouth beginning to water at the thought of this salty, cheesy, caramel blend?
So go ahead, ask the question! Why would a St Paul company trademark 'Chicago Mix' for an amazing popcorn product, and associate it with a completely different city? The Candyland store owners swear by their story, when an idea for mixed popcorn sparked in their mind during a regular day for business. In the early 80's, the couple had recently returned from Chicago, where the popcorn industry was just beginning to unfold. It was a hot summer day with little sales and store owners, Brenda and Doug, decided they would mix their three offerings and display it. They would decide to advertise the new specialty popcorn combination as "Chicago Mix" as a tribute to having had a great Chicago city experience. As the impressive new and unique product started to fly off the shelves at Candyland, the owners found importance in trademarking Chicago Mix® to protect it and make it their own. Big city names plus amazing products equals success and interest, Chicago Mix® was bound to become a trophy product. Who would have thought that a battle would have ensued of the trademark Chicago Mix®.
Candyland has been using the trademark for since 1988, which by law would make the mark incontestable. Note: The Federal Trademark went into effect in 1992. By using our mark to identify their popcorn products companies infringe at their discretion, yet we will execute our right to enforce our intelectual property of the brand we created, Chicago Mix®.
The mark is by no means generic and we will actively continue to save its identity, because it is incomparable to all other popcorn mixtures, and is of utmost value to Candyland. Chicago Combo, Chicago Blend, Chicago Style, Chicago Corn, or anything similar is still protected under our rights to the mark Chicago Mix®, many companies do not understand this and do not consider is to be infringement, but it is.
Our trademark Registration Number for Chicago Mix® is 1,713,984.
If it weren't for the uprising costs of litigation, we do not think there would be an issue. With the uncertainty of the outcome it was not in the best interest of Candyland to invest in the high cost of pursuing these companies in court. Times have changed, and Candyland has launched the ®espect Chicago Mix® Campaign in efforts to remind people of the American way of doing business. With pride, integrity and faith - we know what's right and we must protect the mark to the fullest extent with the Laws and Rules that outline and researched when we received the rights to the mark.
It is our duty to police the market to prevent and remove infringement, we have been highly successful in protecting our rights over the years. We have THE highest standard when it comes to flavored popped popcorn.
Candyland would like to extend a thank you and commend the popcorn companies who abide by the United States Trademark Laws and Rules and those who have acknowledge our exclusive rights to mark Chicago Mix®, and our popcorn fans around the world.
You can purchase Chicago Mix® at www.CandylandStore.com
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