Someone somewhere has declared that today, February 24, 2015, is NATIONAL MUSTACHE DAY. Who would have thought. There must be a day for just about anything of interest to any subset of society.

And for some reason I cannot quite understand, our Editor, Mari-Elise has informed me, "You must work up a blog entry on the interface between mustaches and trademarks." Why me? Oh well, Digging around I made some interesting findings.

Indeed, a simple search through the on-line "Trademark Electronic Search System" (TESS) provided by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (the "PTO") discloses that dating back however far it is that the PTO has listed filings on-line in TESS, there are 2,989 existing trademark registrations, and applications for registration in which the mark is described as including a "mustache" or its variant spelling, "moustache."

These 2,989 trademark registrations and applications for registration display quite an array of variations on a stache from the conventional to the creative, sometimes colorful variations, for instance,

As one might suspect, a stache design is often used in trademarks associated with barbershops, and personal hygiene and grooming products. Especially interesting to me are the trademarks containing creative uses of mustaches to humanize inanimate objects such as:

Perhaps inspired a bit by Panama Jack and his renown, this Jack, the author of this blog has been photographed as a "Grand Cayman Island Jack," (left) and even as "Captain Jack" (with dreadlocks) (right).

Not everyone can grow a good stache. It takes the appropriate DNA and a lot of time to produce a classic stache such as this. Mine dates back to the Fall of 1974 when a bunch of fraternity brothers in the Sigma Chi House decided to each grow a beard. The beard was shaved away the following Summer, but the stache has remained ever since. My daughter Nicki often has requested, "Dad, please shave the mustache so I can see what you really look like," and my wife, perhaps foreshadowing this blog topic, always interjects, "No, no, he can't; it's his look; it's his trademark."

Recognizing that not everyone is blessed with the ability to produce a world-class stache, the market has filled that demand. My search located various substitute approaches the unblessed may attempt such as â

And there are eyeglasses and sunglasses with which one may fake a stache, according to various trademark filings by Worldwide Dynasty of Chatswoth, California including

Or, if you want to fabricate a stache, you can digitally do as my Cousin Chuck did for his youngest daughter, Paige.

Happy National Mustache Day!

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