Cartoon stick figure pointing to a chalkboard with “Zamboni” written in large chalk letters — representing a blog post about the Zamboni word mark.

Trademark: Zamboni

First Used: 1949

First Registered: May 1965

Current Owner: FRANK J. ZAMBONI & COMPANY, INC.

Trademark Type: traditional trademark; word mark

Primarily Associated With: ice resurfacing machines and dump attachments therefore [1]

Generic Phrase: ice resurfacing machines, as in Zamboni® Brand ice resurfacing machines

Also A Trademark For: batteries [2], restaurant services [3], toy vehicles [4], and clothing [5], among others

Brief (and likely incomplete) History: [6]

The Zamboni® brand originated with Frank J. Zamboni's invention of the first ice resurfacing machine in 1949. Before this innovation, ice resurfacing was a labor-intensive process that could take more than an hour: a scraper was first pulled behind a tractor to shave the ice surface, workers would then scoops away the shavings a squeegee dirty water away, and finally more water was applied to create a new frozen surface. Built in the Iceland skating rink in Paramount, California, the “Model A Zamboni Ice Resurfacer” significantly reduced the time needed to resurface ice to just 15 minutes.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine works by scraping the surface of the ice, collecting the scraped snow in an elevated tank, cleaning the surface of the ice with warm water, and then smoothing the new ice surface as the water freezes. After releasing the Model A prototype the Zamboni ice resurfacing machine quickly gained popularity, including through adoption by the NHL and use in the 1960 Winter Olympics, and is now a staple at ice rinks around the world. In the modern era, Zamboni has focused on technological advancements and environmental sustainability, introducing electric and propane-powered models to reduce emissions.

The Zamboni brand has become so famous today that even the outer configuration and shape of a Zamboni ice resurfacing machine is a trademark!

[1] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 789,009, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=789009&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[2] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4,760,253, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=4760253&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[3] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 4,635,716, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=4635716&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[4] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 1,596,619, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=1596619&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[5] USPTO, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 3,987,141, available at https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=3987141&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch.

[6] The Zamboni Story, Zamboni, available at https://zamboni.com/about/zamboni-archives/the-zamboni-story/; Who Invented the Zamboni Machine?, National Inventors Hall of Fame, available at https://www.invent.org/blog/inventors/who-invented-zamboni.