There’s Cold In Them Thar Hills
The United States Patent and Trademark Office ha, apparently, settled a long-running battle by awarding the title of "Icebox of the Nation" to International Falls, Minnesota. That may finally end the counterclaim by Fraser, Colorado.
INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. - International Falls is officially the "Icebox of the Nation."
The city on the Canadian border had been fighting the ski town of Fraser, Colo., for the legal right to the trademark. International Falls claimed victory this week when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sent the city attorney a certificate granting the community Reg. No. 3,375,139.
"I ran over to the attorney's office and kissed the certificate," Mayor Shawn Mason said Friday. "Fraser's actions had sent a chill down my spine."
Mason said more was at stake than bragging rights. She said International Falls has used the icebox title to market itself to industry as the nation's premier site for cold-weather testing.
"We're just thrilled the title has been confirmed," City Administrator Rod Otterness said. "We'll wait until next week to notify them of their copyright infringement. If Fraser wants to call itself the Icebox of Colorado, we have no problem."
The article indicates that Fraser has not been exactly behaving honorably in all of this. They were paid $2,000 in 1989 to drop their claim to the name, but reasserted it when International Falls failed to renew the trademark. No matter, it does appear to be settled.
But where does this leave Frostbite Falls, Minnesota? We expect a scathing editorial from the Frostbite Falls Far-Flung Flyer in the near future.
(Side note: The forecast for International Falls predicts temperatures of -20° F with wind by Sunday.)
By Lars Walker, Saturday, 9 February , 2008 @ 10:00 am
The reason there has been no further comment from the Int’l Falls mayor is that her lips froze to the certificate when she kissed it, and she’s in the process of getting unstuck.
By Bleepless, Saturday, 9 February , 2008 @ 1:04 pm
Where were Boris and Natasha when Fraser “voluntarily” relinquished its claim? Mwa-ha-ha!
By Steve Burri, Saturday, 9 February , 2008 @ 9:05 pm
We were just blasted with almost a two foot snowfall and tomorrow the wind chill will be in the -30’s all day; blizzard conditions with no new snowfall.
I couldn’t imagine living up in International Falls.