Twain tried to use trade mark in his lawsuit against Canadian pirate Belford
Clark in 1882-3 and lost that case in Jan 1883. On March 1, 1883 he wrote to
Chatto & Windus saying he'd filed a trade mark for his name and asked them
to use it in their edition of LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI and called this plan a
"dodge" that would allow another trade mark suit to be filed.  Toward the
end of Twain's life I think Ashcroft filed a trade mark for the name Mark
Twain. I seem to recall it was for a specific product like cigars, but I'm
not sure of the details of these later trade mark actions.

This poses some questions--

1. Did Twain or his estate ever successfully trade mark his name? I've
always understood this was the case, but is this documented? Did he just
trade mark his name, or did he also trademark his image (or is that
required)? Does trade mark of a name also cover an image? a character?

2. I have countless examples of Twain's name and/or image used in
advertising without his permission during his lifetime and ever since.
Oldsmobile, tourist resorts, oranges, lemons, oysters, shoes, shirts, pants,
furs, pens, pipes, recording machines, booze, cigars, board games, card
games, two dozen motels, at least two stud horses named after him, etc.
Have any of these been the subject of legal action?

3. I have a shelf of books in which Mark Twain is used as a character. None
of these portrayals strike me as parodies, which are protected legal use. I
don't recall any of these books mentioning that they had permission to use
his name. Have any of these authors or publishers been sued?

4. I do know of two instances where a book was published falsely using
Twain's name as author, first in 1873, and again in 1917, and both were
successfully sued, but that's not what I think is being proposed.

Kevin Mac Donnell
Austin TX