Rockies trying to trademark 'Rocktober'
Associated Press and Rocky staff reports
Friday, October 19, 2007
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"Rocktober," the new shorthand for the Colorado Rockies' amazing playoff run, is showing up everywhere from newspaper headlines to handmade ballpark signs.
But now the team wants a trademark to keep anyone else from selling keepsakes bearing the word.
The Rockies filed applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Oct. 4 asking for exclusive rights to the name on stuffed animals, Christmas stockings, baby booties, T-shirts, bobble-head dolls and the like.
The filing came two days after Gov. Bill Ritter declared October would be known as "Rocktober" after the Rockies beat the San Diego Padres in 13 innings to win the wild card spot.
On the previous day, the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post both used the word in front-page headlines. It has also shown up on newscasts and in car commercials and department store ads.
But the term actually arose in Denver nearly two years ago, if only in "what if?" terms.
The Rocky's Bernie Lincicome appears to have coined Rocktober in his sports column on Oct. 22, 2005, when he referred to a Chicago newspaper's proclamation of Soxtober, and joked about the possibility of an Astrober in Houston.
"Denver has the easiest of these should the need ever arise," Lincicome wrote. "Rocktober."
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