Chew Toy Holdings

The other day all of Seattle was in a tizzy. No, it wasn't reaction to the latest emails in the City of Seattle v. Sonics case. Nor a complete flop of a road trip by the Mariners.

Instead, word had spread that a legal battle was brewing between two of our fair city's icons: Starbucks and the Rat City Roller Girls. (I'm supplying links in case you want to buy a T-shirt, mug, whatever. Starbucks can use all the help it can get these days.)

It's got the makings of an E! Entertainment Network special. Starbucks attorneys claiming trademark infringement. Hot RollerGirls throwing elbows. Starbucks PR people calling the RollerGirls "scary". The RollerGirls attorney, Quinn Heraty, throws her dog-eared copy of 'Moby Dick' at the Starbucks legal team. Heraty, as it turns out, was the subject of a New York Observer article a few years ago which detailed a day on the town with her then-boyfriend David Cross which included.... (wait for it).... a stop at Starbucks. (Is it getting hawt in here?)

So, as my ex-wife would say (often) "What the hell is your point?!"

Well fast-forward to the Red Wings/ Pens game tonight. I thought I saw a familiar Pens jersey, and then after a few Googles... I find this:
So it looks like we have the makings of a "concentric circles/two star" legal orgy with the participants being 60 pissed-off rollergirls, 40 hockey players, and a few thousand baristas. (Getting HOTTER!)

But then I dug a little deeper, and found this. While Starbucks was formed in the early 70s, the Pittsburgh Penguins original logo was in use in October 1967 (and was likely unveiled much earlier).

So who copied who? Maybe the RCRGs are negotiating with the wrong party.

(If any of you RCRGs have any pull, you could put in the good word with X-Khan for me. Just sayin.)


h/t to StarbucksGossip for the logos.

Some quick updates on Chew Toy Holdings projects:

• animalcareerist: We are currently updating this animal-career blog once a week. We have added Google AdSense ad blocks to the blog and we have begun a series of interviews with animal professionals. Thanks to Cyndi Walker at Halo Graphics.
• Chew Toy Media: We are beginning development of the Chew Toy Media site, with a list of services being added to the site this week.
• Chew Toy Networks: We are finalizing the contracts on the Alpha site for the Chew Toy Networks dog- and horse-focused social network/marketplace.
• Insurance: We have partnered with animal lover and marketing expert Joanne Turk, to develop an animal insurance agency. Product offerings will include animal mortality coverage, business liability coverage, and other specialized projects.
  

We are proud to present the launch of our new blog animalcareerist.com. This blog is focused on helping people start and run successful animal businesses. Interested in starting an animal business? Then you'll enjoy our "H2SAB: How to Start an Animal Business" series, which will take readers through the process of indentifying and starting an animal-related business. Are you currently running an animal business and want to give it a kick in the pants? You'll want to watch for our "Career Boost" series of tips geared toward helping owners improve visibility, sales and profitability.

Do you have suggestions for another specialty blog? Contact us today!

Many thanks to everyone who helped get the first of our websites up and running.

Thanks to the fine folks at Juxtaprose for designing the site and bearing with our revisions. Thanks too, to Michele and Karalyn for their editorial and design input and bearing with the last-minute emails.

And of course, thanks to Sophie for her help in pulling everything all together.

Sophie and I attended the Web 2.0 panel hosted by TiE at the Bellevue Courtyard last night. The moderator was John Cook, author of the Seattle P-I's Venture Blog, where he blogged the conference.

The energy and ideas were great, but we were a little underwhelmed by the lack of focus on actually making a profit. One panelist put it well: "What do I offer that will make someone stop their busy day to use my application?" I sensed that most of the attendees consider that subject someone elses's job.

Have we learned nothing?

Labels: startups, tasty desserts, web2.0

We're happy to announce that we have obtained the license rights to an exciting invention in the sporting goods market.

We are developing a patent and then will seek to sell the manufacturing rights to a third-party manufacturer.

Welcome to our new site!

Please take a look around and let us know if you have ideas for businesses, would like to invest, or have any questions at all about what we do. Thanks for visiting.

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