As reported in February, Snooki of MTV’s reality show Jersey Shore tried to trademark her nickname. Snooki was hoping to secure the trademark for use making public appearences and to release a book using the name. It was pointed out that the name was a sound-alike of the name of a children’s book, Snooky [The Underwater Cat]. Seems the US Patent and Trademark Office were handy with Amazon.com too, as on Thursday they decided to reject the application to trademark the term as it sounded too much like one already in existance.
‘Snooki’ is already taken. The name was registered for the Adventures of Snooky; a 2004 children’s book about a cat knocked overboard on a fishing excursion. ‘The terms SNOOKY and SNOOKI are very similar,’ the US Patent and Trademark Office wrote in its trademark refusal, obtained by TheSmokingGun.com. ‘Therefore, given the similarity of marks and identity of goods, there is a likelihood of confusion.’ [Pop Crunch]
