Over the last several years, there’s been a lot to laugh at in Trenton, New Jersey. The things that have happened here; the words that have been said; the people that say them; have all provided us all a lot of smiles, chuckles, titters, and outright guffaws. Most of the time the humor is only appreciated by those of us who live or work here , but there are occasions when we cause the world to laugh.
Although, it has to be said, on those occasions the world is more often laughing at us than with us.
Because of all that enjoyment we’ve unwittingly provided to the world at our expense it was more than a little gratifying to see an event last year that, for one short and sun-shiny day at least, gave the planet a chance to smile and laugh (and dab at our lips and cheeks with napkins) at something in Trenton that was nothing but fun. I speak, of course, of May 24, 2014, the day Trenton celebrated Pork Roll.
As a transplant to this town, and as a non-native New Jerseyan, I will admit that, apart from the occasional taste of the stuff – I do like it – I can’t say I’ve ever gotten excited about pork roll. I didn’t go to last year’s festival, and was pretty non-committal about this year’s events. But I was more than pleased that there WAS such an event produced last year. It was a great idea, and it was pulled off with a great deal of enthusiasm.
It was far more popular than the planners ever thought it would be. There were the usual growing pains experienced by many similar events: not enough food ordered for the numbers of people who showed up, physical space too small for the crowds who showed, long lines for food and beverage throughout the day. But, by all accounts and any measure, the day was a smashing success. Those who attended had a great time, as the 46(!) pictures attached to this account in the Trenton Times of May 24 last year prove that. People ate, they drank, they had fun. In Trenton. Fantastic. As the headline in the Times suggested, this day was intended to be the first of many. The “Inaugural” festival to create the mold for many years to come.It was a great day for Trenton. A day that had nothing to do with any of the other craziness that this town is too well known for. A day when the only thing to worry about was if the pork roll would run out before you got to the front of the line.
A completely and entirely Fantastic and Fun day, in other words. Even though I didn’t go last year, I looked forward to this year’s event, and beyond. For once, I thought, Trenton had come up with an idea that was so unique, so much fun, and so basically uncomplicated, that nothing and no one could screw it up.
Now, as I said above, I didn’t attend last year’s event, I don’t know any part of the behind-the-scenes drama about the falling-out that led to the creation of two rival events, to be held at two separate locations on the very same day this year. My initial, uninformed take on it, shared by many in this town I talked to, was that this kind of development, and the publicity it created, could be a good thing. Two dueling festivals in different parts of town on the same day might actually create more buzz and draw bigger crowds than last year’s. Heck, there’s even been talk of a Vegan Pork Roll Festival, if you can conceive such a thing, being planned for the same day!
Trenton seemed to be on the verge of a renaissance fueled by processed meats. Let a thousand pork roll festivals blossom!!
Well, once again, Trenton showed me that there is no good thing that can’t get screwed up. In this case, by a falling out among the two main organizers that has led over the last 12 months, first, to the prospect of two separate and competing festivals on the same day this year. And most recently this week, to the threat of legal action by one against the other.
This latest development became public on the pages of Facebook yesterday, and has been taken up by the local media this morning in both the Times and Trentonian. The wire services will no doubt pick this up today, and I have every expectation that the rest of the world will soon be chuckling at our most recent foibles.
Which to me is one damn shame. Because it will be further proof that this town is full of fuck-ups. Because it will show that it doesn’t take long for a good idea, even a relatively small (in the cosmic sense of things), light-hearted and affectionate idea like a local food festival can get screwed up by ego, greed and small-mindedness.
From where I sit, as a bystander, I have to look at the actions taken this week by Scott Miller and shake my head. He is the person who retained a lawyer to send a “cease-and-desist” letter to TC Nelson. Both were the principal organizers of last year’s event. The inspiration for the event seems to have been Miller’s. The venue was Nelson’s very successful Trenton Social restaurant. Both organized and produced the event in 2014, and apparently had a falling-out over the last year. Mr. Miller retained a lawyer to send a threatening letter to Mr. Nelson, accusing him of violating Miller’s “intellectual property rights, including the trademark and copyrights attached as Exhibit A.” Mr. Nelson, quite understandably, is upset, and he took to his Facebook page yesterday to vent his anger at his former associate.
The “Exhibit A” mentioned in the cease-and-desist letter is as of now unavailable for examination. But it is possible to examine applications for Trademarks, in an attempt to satisfy one’s curiosity about the validity of some of these claims. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the government agency that grants trademarks, part of the “intellectual property” claimed by Mr. Miller. That office maintains something called the “Trademark Electronic Search System,” a searchable database for registrations applied for and granted by the office. A cursory search of the term “Pork Roll” returns some very interesting results.
An application by Mr. Miller’s company “Pork Roll Productions” was indeed filed with the USPTO, on March 26 of this year. A summary of the application can be seen here. There is a lot of information here, in his attempt to claim the phrase “pork roll festival” as a registered Trademark. Let me point out just a few key notes.
The application claims the “First Use Anywhere Date” of “At least as early as 3/15/2014,” which sounds about right for an event first held last May.
But in answer to an item that says “SECTION 2(f) Claim of Acquired Distinctiveness, based on Use” Miller’s application states “The mark has become distinctive of the goods/services through the applicant’s substantially exclusive and continuous use in commerce that the U.S. Congress may lawfully regulate for at least the five years immediately before the date of this statement. [Emphasis mine – KM]”
Five years? Really? Seems to me that, if one of the requirements of getting an exclusive trademark for a phrase is five years of “exclusive and continuous use” then a statement that it has only been in use since 2014 makes the application about 4 years premature. Another statement about the status of Mr. Miller’s application says that his March 2015 application will not even be assigned to an internal USPTO attorney for review and approval three months after the application, or June of this year at the earliest. At that time, I would guess that the assigned review attorney will ask Mr. Miller about the discrepancy between his statement about “at least five years” of usage before a “first use” in 2014.
Seems to me that Mr. Miller’s cease-and-desist letter is nothing more than a bad-faith attempt to force Mr. Nelson (and, perhaps, the Vegans, too!) to cancel his competing festival, based on a very very dubious claim of exclusive intellectual property rights.
Shame on Scott Miller. Shame on him for turning what started out as a great idea turned into a great little event inspired by local Trenton pride – a little kooky yes, but isn’t Trenton more than a little kooky? – and trying to squeeze out everyone else who helped turn the event from an idea into a reality.In the process, he seriously risks the good will to this event that he AND TC Nelson earned last year.
Nothing will draw people to a street festival – and, really, that’s what this is, a great local street festival – like the promise of a few hours of fun, good food and drink, and good times. And nothing will keep them away like the smell of greed.
If Scott Miller has any common sense left in him, he should apologize to TC Nelson today for his stupid and ill-considered letter this week, and for what sounds like months of pig-headed selfish behavior leading up to it. He has a short window of time to that, before news of his bone-headed greed spreads more widely and spoils a good thing for everyone.
It would be a shame if one of the nicest things to come out of this town in years gets ruined by Scott Miller’s petty spite.
Funny you should spotlight this topic .. .. Did you know that a certain Trentonian believe he had trademarked the phrase “Trenton Makes” and sent cease and desist letters to anyone using the phrase? Food for thought.