Black History Month: The MOTOWN Trade Mark

Published date13 November 2020
Subject MatterIntellectual Property, Trademark
Law FirmDehns
AuthorMr Joseph Letang

At the end of Black History Month we highlight an iconic global trade mark of African-American origin, dating from 1959, a time before US segregation was outlawed (1964) and before black people were allowed to vote in the US (1965).

The first trade mark registration certificate for the brand was dated 1965 and the first logo was registered in 1976.

Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson & The Jackson 5, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, The Temptations ('My Girl'), The Four Tops, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas ('Dancing in the Street'), Gladys Knight & the Pips, Lionel Richie & the Commodores, and more. Most of us will have heard (and probably danced to) the songs of at least some of these artists, all of whose initial hit recordings (only available on vinyl at the time) were under the MOTOWN trade marks (originally branded TAMLA MOTOWN outside the US). The label was founded by Berry Gordy, an African-American who incorporated Motown Record Corporation in 1960 in Detroit.

Gordy's premises came to be known as "Hitsville USA". HITSVILLE is also a registered trade mark in the US, UK and EU. One of Motown's most successful acts was The Supremes. In 1964, starting with "Where did our love go", they had five consecutive US No.1 hits, one of which, "Baby love", was also a UK No.1. With more than 180 No.1 hit songs worldwide, Motown Records became a model of black capitalism, pride and self-expression.

The trade mark 'Motown', coined by Gordy, is a combination of the words 'motor' and 'town', because Detroit was and is the hub of the US motor industry. Many African-Americans moved to Detroit from the South for the work on offer on the production lines of the motor manufacturers. Indeed Gordy had earlier worked on the assembly line at Detroit's Lincoln-Mercury car factory. He noticed how a car started at one end of the production line as a simple chassis and came off the other end as a gleaming finished vehicle. He adopted this notion for Motown Records; to take unknown young people with raw talent and move them through the business departments until...

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