Lake House Candle Company

[BruceCarvesWax]

You website is one of the best looking ones I have ever seen. Very very nice.

Great looking products too. How long have you been making candles?

Bruce

[David Fields]

NICE web...Very, Very professional. Your labels must have cost you a TON to have each one individually printed?? We have just a generic label!! How long have you been making Candles!! You look like you have been around the Block?? We have been making and selling Candles for almost 10 years..We do have a Storefront in a Mall in College Station..Home of the FIGHTIN' AGGIES!! We sell lots and lots of Candles...I am with everyone else...just beware of the "Name infringement" issues. We have Sweet Pea..but ours is Oh Sweet Pea...(remember the song??).

Good Luck!!

Joyce

[NattyCat]

With regard to trademarked names, I think i'm right in thinking that nobody can trademark a name, if the name is something that exists as the description of an item.

I don't think I'm making myself clear - but for example, if Yankee want to make an apple scented candle, they can't trademark the name "apple" because it would mean nobody else would ever be able to create a candle that smells of apples. This is why they don't have these names trademarked on their site. However, when they INVENT a name, like "midsummer's night" that is their word, their name, and it is used to describe that particular blend of scent.

You can't go around trade-marking anything you like - I can't trademark the word "leather" or "sweet pea" for my candles, because both Leather and Sweet Pea are just items that have a distintive smell, and my candle would emulate that scent. You cannot trade-mark the aroma that you get when you sniff leather or sweet pea - hence not being able to trademark the word "sweet pea".

I may well be wrong, but this is as far as I understand when reading the trademarks council website.

Nat

[eugenia]

Kevin, I love your website! Simple and clean with great pics; thanks much for sharing.

[uckevin111]

NICE web...Very, Very professional. Your labels must have cost you a TON to have each one individually printed?? We have just a generic label!! How long have you been making Candles!! You look like you have been around the Block?? We have been making and selling Candles for almost 10 years..We do have a Storefront in a Mall in College Station..Home of the FIGHTIN' AGGIES!! We sell lots and lots of Candles...I am with everyone else...just beware of the "Name infringement" issues. We have Sweet Pea..but ours is Oh Sweet Pea...(remember the song??).

Good Luck!!

Joyce

I actually print all the labels myself. I buy labels from an online store for very cheap and then print them out as I need them. The labels were all designed by me and as I get new fragrances I just make a new design.

I have been making candles for about 3 years now and decided that if I were going to do it as a business that I would really go for it. It helps a lot that my day job is as a computer programmer, specifically in web development, and that I have dabbled in design for a few years now. So everything you see has been done by me only. It takes me some time to do it all, but it really cuts down on my cost.

I hope to be able to open a retail store here in Cincinnati sometime in the near future!

Thanks for all the support and good luck with your store.

- Kevin

[uckevin111]

With regard to trademarked names, I think i'm right in thinking that nobody can trademark a name, if the name is something that exists as the description of an item.

I don't think I'm making myself clear - but for example, if Yankee want to make an apple scented candle, they can't trademark the name "apple" because it would mean nobody else would ever be able to create a candle that smells of apples. This is why they don't have these names trademarked on their site. However, when they INVENT a name, like "midsummer's night" that is their word, their name, and it is used to describe that particular blend of scent.

You can't go around trade-marking anything you like - I can't trademark the word "leather" or "sweet pea" for my candles, because both Leather and Sweet Pea are just items that have a distintive smell, and my candle would emulate that scent. You cannot trade-mark the aroma that you get when you sniff leather or sweet pea - hence not being able to trademark the word "sweet pea".

I may well be wrong, but this is as far as I understand when reading the trademarks council website.

Nat

I agree with you. I would think it wouldn't be allowed to trademark something that is a "common" name or the actual name of something (like a flower). If you look at Yankee's site you will see the "TM" next to the names they have trademarked. So "Cinnamon Stick" isn't trademarked but "Cottage Breeze" is. Thanks for pointing that out. I will look at some of the sites more in depth to make sure I'm not infringing on any TM's.

- Kevin

[stacien]

Peak sell Cool Citrus Basil and Sweet Pea and mention that it is a BBW type, so I am not really sure - maybe Kevin will reply later. I don´t want to hijack this thread, gonna do a search on the subject.

I don't think sweet pea qualifies as just a BBW type. It is a flower and they didn't tradmark the flower. That is like saying Yankee gets ownership of lilac. You could use cool citrus basil just eliminate the cool part. That is a aromatherapy blend which again is not trademarked. Cucumber Melon isn't either, both BBW and Colonial hold that scent but it isn't their idea. Yankee doesn't hold ownership on all their scents, such as bakery, fruits and floral.

The only ones that you would have to either rename or "type" is the perfumes and certain BBW scents like Moonlight Path and maybe Juniper breeze that are their blends. I would think you could rename clean cotton and the others that have to do with clean laundry. lol

I just saw one of CT members who uses Hersheys as the scent for one of her candles and she hasn't gotten in trouble yet. Yet another woman was sued from Jimmy Buffet just for using "Margaritaville".

[uckevin111]

I've been doing a little bit of research on trademark law and anything that has the "TM" next to it is trademarked but not actually registered as a trademark with the USPTO. In other words, the trademark is there but not necessarily backed up by federal law. The "R" symbol marks a trademark that is registered with the USPTO. Strangly (to me) Bath and Body Works has a registered trademark for Sweet Pea. I'm not exactly sure what the law is, but a trademark can be on the name, color, and smell, so one would need to make sure their product could not, in any way, be confused with B&BW product. So making a pink candle, in a round jar, with the name "Wild Sweet Pea" or anything like that could still be infringing on the trademark. I am very surprised that they were able to trademark the name of a flower, but now I'm going to have to revisit my naming

- Kevin

[so-soy]

Here's another thread about tm'ing names and products...

http://www.candletech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4542&highlight=trademark

[Mei-Mei]

I've been doing a little bit of research on trademark law and anything that has the "TM" next to it is trademarked but not actually registered as a trademark with the USPTO. In other words, the trademark is there but not necessarily backed up by federal law. The "R" symbol marks a trademark that is registered with the USPTO. Strangly (to me) Bath and Body Works has a registered trademark for Sweet Pea. I'm not exactly sure what the law is, but a trademark can be on the name, color, and smell, so one would need to make sure their product could not, in any way, be confused with B&BW product. So making a pink candle, in a round jar, with the name "Wild Sweet Pea" or anything like that could still be infringing on the trademark. I am very surprised that they were able to trademark the name of a flower, but now I'm going to have to revisit my naming

- Kevin

Well, they trademarked the name in reference to a candle. In other words one could probably get away with making a cupcake called 'Sweet Pea' but might get in trouble doing it with a candle. Trademark law is very weird and complicated. I too am surprised they were able to trademark a common name like that.

[awickedscent]

I keep trying to select a custom color for a few of your jars and I am not able to add it to the shopping cart. I tried three different scents and they all do the same thing

[uckevin111]

I keep trying to select a custom color for a few of your jars and I am not able to add it to the shopping cart. I tried three different scents and they all do the same thing

Hmmm, I just tried it on a few different ones and it worked for me. The custom color will show up in the cart underneath the name of the style of candle you are purchasing. So it will say 'Home Scents Jar Candle - Cotton Blossom, Red' if you chose a red color for the Cotton Blossom candle.

Has anyone else had a problem with this, as I can't seem to replicate it if it's an error?

Thanks,

Kevin

[Mei-Mei]

Hmmm, I just tried it on a few different ones and it worked for me. The custom color will show up in the cart underneath the name of the style of candle you are purchasing. So it will say 'Home Scents Jar Candle - Cotton Blossom, Red' if you chose a red color for the Cotton Blossom candle.

Has anyone else had a problem with this, as I can't seem to replicate it if it's an error?

Thanks,

Kevin

I tried it. I pretend-ordered a 'Cool Citrus Basil' in 'Maple' color and stuck it in my cart with no problem. Then I did a couple more. No problem at all.

[clane]

I do like your site. Being a romantic at heart (and also a web developer) the only thing that threw me off was the 'feel' of the site vs. the name of your company. When I read "Lake House Candle Company" I pictured more of a 'secret lake/forresty' type place where timeless aroma' were developed... and... well, you know what I mean... practically pictured the chandler in a long dress from the 1800's lol..

Yes, my imagination/creativity does the overdrive thing now and again...

Best of blessings to you!

P.S. - Really think about the shop... I have developed the opposite direction than you i.e. physical shop --> virtual store and physical shop is nice for the face to face but makes it really hard to keep up with candlemaking...