10/13/2021
Sweet!
🍭TODAY in IP HISTO®Y 🍭 On October 13, 1931, the name “Lolly Pops” was ™ ®egistered to the Bradley Smith Company of New Haven, Connecticut by the US Patent Office.
George Smith started the Bradley Smith company in 1908, producing the first hard candy on a stick. He had modified a popular concept from another confectioner, Reynolds Taffy, who produced soft caramel taffy on sticks. Sold for a penny each, the Bradley Smith Co. distributed the sweets and around the world, shipping them throughout the USA and to England and China.
According to Smith, the name, Lolly Pop was inspired by a racehorse he had seen at a local fair. Unfortunately, for him, the Patent Office found the term "lollipop" had been used in an English dictionary published in the early 1800s, where it was described as “a hard sweetmeat sometimes on a stick,” and, as a result, they refused initial registration of "Lolly Pops."
Meanwhile - at the Company, Lolly Pops were first produced by cutting off a chunk of warm hard candy and pushing a stick into the hot mold by hand. In the process of inserting the stick, the candy was formed and slightly flattened out by the palm.
Later, Max Buchmuller, a foreman at the company, invented and patented a machine to insert the sticks. The machine featured a continuous chain of split molds, which, when filled and closed, shaped the Lolly Pop while an automated plunger pushed the sticks in. His invention allowed the company to produce 125 Lolly Pops per minute. While additional mechanical improvements were made to keep up with demand, capacity increased up to 750 Lolly Pops per minute.
After the company proved to the Patent Office that "Lolly Pops" was an original and unique spelling and that it had been the first to trader use the name in connection with hard candy on a stick, the USPTO refusal was overturned and the ™ registration was finally granted.
During the long TRADEMARK registration process, however, many other companies who had also improved lollipop production used the name freely, until Bradley Smith was ultimately granted the registration displayed TODAY in 1931. 🍭🍡🍭🍢🍭
Nonetheless, over time, the term "Lolly Pops" and its variant spelling, Lollipop became interchangeable and was so universally used that the trademark could not be maintained. ⏳ Hence, only a few years later, in 1938, the struggling Bradley Smith Company was forced to cease its candy-making operations.
READ More IP HISTORY at https://www.brandxperts.com/newpagec0463b87
LISTEN to Lollipop, Lollipop at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rYoRaxgOE0
