Cartoon stick figure holding a flying disk and pointing at a chalkboard with “Frisbee” written in large chalk letters — representing a blog post about the Frisbee word mark trademark registration.

Trademark: Frisbee

First Used: 1957

Registered: 1959

Current Owner: WHAM-O HOLDING, LTD. [1]

Trademark Type: traditional trademark; word mark

Primarily Associated With: toy flying saucers for toss games [2]

Generic Phrase: flying disc, as in FRISBEE® brand flying disc

Also A Trademark For: video games, jewelry, sport bags, towels, clothing, board games, and many other goods [3]

Brief (and likely incomplete) History [4]:

The origin of the Frisbee® brand has its roots in both New England baking and mid-century toy innovation. In 1871, William Frisbie founded the Frisbie Pie Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, students at Yale and other nearby colleges had developed a playful tradition of tossing the company’s empty pie tins and shouting “Frisbie!” as they flew.

Decades later, in the 1940s, Walter Frederick Morrison and Warren Franscioni designed an improved version of the flying tin, calling it the “Flying Saucer.” They later sold the design to the toy company Wham-O, which initially marketed it as the “Pluto Platter” (drawing on public fascination with UFOs at the time). After a few years of selling the Pluto Platter, Wham-O decided to rebrand and renamed their flying disc "Frisbee" as a nod to the pie tins and the popular college pastime, albeit with a slightly altered spelling.

The Frisbee flying disc quickly grew into a national sensation, helped by Wham-O’s marketing prowess and the rise of outdoor leisure culture in the 1960s. The brand evolved beyond a simple toy, spawning organized sports such as Ultimate Frisbee and disc golf. Over the decades, the Frisbee flying disc has become both a cultural icon and a staple of recreational play, while also establishing a foothold in competitive disc sports.