Liquid Paper
Trademark: LIQUID PAPER
First Used: December 1956
First Registered: February 1957
Current Owner: SANFORD, L.P. (Newell Brands) [1]
Trademark Type: traditional trademark; word mark
Primarily Associated With: correction fluid for mistakes made by typewriter or otherwise [2]
Generic Phrase: correction fluid, as in LIQUID PAPER® Brand correction fluid
Brief (and likely incomplete) History [3]:
The world’s first correction fluid was invented in 1951 by Bette Nesmith Graham (the mother of Michael Nesmith from The Monkees!). Bette’s work as a typist led her to experiment with solutions for correcting accidental typing mistakes. She created the first formula using tempera paint in her kitchen, initially naming it "Mistake Out." As the product gained popularity among her colleagues, she patented it in 1958 and officially branded it Liquid Paper® (not to be confused with the WITE-OUT® brand).
Her company grew rapidly, eventually moving to a dedicated factory with automated operations and 19 employees. In 1968, one million bottles of Liquid Paper® Brand correction fluid was sold. By 1976, the company was producing 25 million bottles of correction fluid a year. A few years later, in 1979 Liquid Paper was sold to Gillette for $47.5 million. A devote feminist, Bette also dedicated her life to charity before passing away in 1980, establishing the Gihon Foundation to collect paintings and other artworks by women, and the Bette Clair McMurray Foundation to support women in need.
Did you know that Sanford, L.P. is also the owner of several other well-known trademarks for office supplies? ELMER’S [4], ERASERMATE [5], EXPO [6], PAPERMATE [7], SHARPIE [8], and X-ACTO [9] are all office supply brands also owned by Sanford, L.P. – find out more about some of these trademarks in future posts!
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[1] Erasers & Corrections, PAPERMATE, available at https://www.papermate.com/erasers-corrections.
[2] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 1,128,622, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73168782&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[3] Perseverance, thy name is Bette, USPTO, available at https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/journeys-innovation/historical-stories/perseverance-thy-name-bette; How inventing Liquid Paper got a secretary fired and then turned her into an exec worth $25 million, CNBC, posted July 23, 2018, and available at https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/19/inventing-liquid-paper-got-a-secretary-fired-and-then-made-her-rich.html; Biography of Bette Nesmith Graham, Inventor of Liquid Paper, THOUGHTCO, last updated July 21, 2019, and available at https://www.thoughtco.com/liquid-paper-bette-nesmith-graham-1992092.
[4] See, e.g., USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 3,389,055, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=78972001&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[5] See, e.g., USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 1,139,230, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73190188&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[6] See, e.g., USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 7,055,441, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=97688793&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[7] See, e.g., USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 565,961, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=71610495&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[8] See, e.g., USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,721,523, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=78143334&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[9] See, e.g., USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 3,772,498, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=77502049&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.