Peeps
Trademark: Peeps
First Used: 1954
First Registered: 1982
Current Owner: JUST BORN, INC. [1]
Trademark Type: traditional trademark; word mark; non-traditional trademark; trade dress; configuration mark
Primarily Associated With: candy [2]
Brief (and likely incomplete) History [3]:
Happy Easter (or international weekend of candy) to those who celebrate. Love it or hate it, the most iconic Easter candy is undoubtedly Peeps® marshmallow candy. Did you know that roughly 5.5 million Peeps marshmallow candies are produced daily, roughly 2 billion a year!? Let’s take a look at this enduring treat’s trademark portfolio!
Originally known as Marshmallow Peeps® [4], and now just Peeps® [5], the candy brand got its start in the 1950s after Just Born, a Pennsylvania-based candy company founded by Russian immigrant Sam Born, acquired the Rodda Candy Company. Rodda was known for its hand-made marshmallow chicks, which took over 24 hours to produce. Just Born revolutionized the process by automating the production, cutting the time to just six minutes per a marshmallow chick. This innovation made the Peeps brand a mass-produced treat, originally available only in chick form and primarily around Easter, but they later expanded to various shapes, colors, and holidays, becoming a pop culture staple. Today, the shape of the Peeps marshmallow candy has become so famous that it is a registered configuration trademark for both candy [6] and toys [7].
You may have heard of the Wienermobile® owned by Kraft Foods [8], but did you know that there is a PEEPSMOBILE® [9]? The Peepsmobile, a yellow converted VW Beetle adorned with a giant Peep head, is the iconic, mobile mascot for the Peeps brand, used primarily for corporate events. The Peepsmobile is so unique and famous that its configuration is a registered trademark. The Peepsmobile Configuration mark [10] is a registered trademark in connection with “arranging, organizing, conducting, and hosting social entertainment events.”
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[1] Just Born, https://www.justborn.com/.
[2] U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,229,060, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75490661&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch;
[3] For the Love of PEEPS®, PEEPS BRAND, available at https://www.peepsbrand.com/about-us/; Fun Facts, JUST BRAND, available at https://www.justborn.com/who-we-are/fun-facts/; The Sticky, Sugary History of Peeps, VOX, last updated March 30, 2018, and available at https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/4/11/15209084/peeps-easter; A Peep Into the History of Easter’s Marshmallow Icon, CNN, last updated April 20, 2019, and available at https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/20/health/peeps-history/index.html.
[4] U.S. Trademark Registration No. 1,219,337, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73276024&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[5] U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,229,060, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75490661&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[6] U.S. Trademark Registration No. 2,185,581, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=75276326&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[7] U.S. Trademark Registration No. 3,672,305, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=77653408&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[8] U.S. Trademark Registration No. 662,511, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=72028364&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[9] U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4,822,009, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=86532782&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.
[10] U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4,849,843, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=86543003&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.