History of Juneteenth
Have you wondered who owns the trademark to Juneteenth; is someone allowed to trademark Juneteenth; or what is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth is short for "June Nineteenth". June 19th, 1865, marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the United States and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. On June 17, 2021, Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday.
Juneteenth has long been celebrated by African-Americans (the descendants of those who were enslaved), in the State of Texas and nationwide. The official Juneteenth flag, was created in 1997 by Ben Haith, the founder of the National Juneteenth Celebration Foundation (NJCF) On June 17th, 2021, Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday.
Registered Juneteenth Trademarks
Recently, there has been pushback against certain companies (non-black owned) seeking to trademark "Juneteenth". Most notably, Balchem Corporation which sought to trademark Juneteenth for Ice Cream. Balchem officially abandoned their trademark application on May 23rd, 2022.
Currently, there are forty-one (41) live Juneteenth trademark applications filed in the United States Patent and Trademark office. Of those 41 trademark applications, only Six (6) trademarks are officially registered with the USPTO.
Financial Juneteenth ®
Juneteenth Strawberry Soda ®
Juneteenth Apparel ®
Juneteenth Freedom Festival®
Juneteenth 365®
"Free-ish" Juneteenth®
It's important to note that the registered "Juneteenth" trademarks above do not solely contain the word "Juneteenth", but other words in addition to Juneteenth. The USPTO has issued office actions against pending applications that are seeking to solely trademark "Juneteenth". It's highly likely that those pending applications will be refused by the USPTO or abandoned by the applicant. As of 2022, no one owns the trademark rights to "Juneteenth" only.
The good thing is, the owners of these Juneteenth trademarks are able to use their trademark registrations to generate additional streams of income. If you would like to learn more on how to Make Money Off Your Trademark, click the link below for your free guide!