By Delarita Ford
Twitter: @AzNewsmedia

The City of Scottsdale’s “eureka moment” happens to come with $7,000 to not use the trademark Eureka Loft.

City Council approved on consent, Nov. 25, the Eureka Loft settlement agreement with Eureka Hub Management to abandon the city’s registration to use Eureka Loft trademark in exchange for the agreed upon sum, according to a city staff report.

The city received official trademark protection for the term Eureka Loft in September 2016 as part of launching and marketing a collaborative work space for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Launched in 2015, this was a partnership between the library, economic development departments and Arizona State University.

However, a California company named Eureka Hub Management Inc. applied to register its Eureka trademark nationwide with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2017, the report said, adding that it was rejected due to Scottsdale’s previous registration.

The California company then filed a petition to cancel the Scottsdale registration based on Eureka Hub’s alleged use of Eureka before Scottsdale’s trademark filing date, according to the report.

“If proven, Eureka Hub’s prior common law use of Eureka would invalidate Scottsdale’s trademark registration of Eureka for similar services,” the report cited.

After Eureka Hub contacted the city about the discrepancy, the city attorneys, Scottsdale Public Library representatives and city communication staff consulted with the city’s outside intellectual property counsel to determine the best course of action.

What was considered as the best course of action was to release Eureka Loft trademark, the report stated, noting that the space, purpose, programming would all be changed and re-branded.

The city will use the $7,000 for re-branding and reprogramming as redeveloping the Eureka Loft space along with associated programming is already underway, the report added.

Delarita Ford
Lead Reporter | Surprise
@AzNewsmedia

dford@iniusa.org

Meet Delarita
Delarita Ford originally joined Independent Newspapers Incorporated, now Independent Newsmedia, Inc. USA in 1997, as a general assignment reporter for the Delaware State News daily paper after starting her journalism career in Maryland in 1994, where she honed her skills by writing obituaries, covering community news from births to deaths, education to legislation and more. As a reporter, she has had the opportunity to cover sitting and former U.S. presidential visits in Baltimore, Delaware, and Arizona.

Community: One of the few seasoned journalists who still enjoys covering community events, she can be found with a reporter’s pad taking notes, her phone taking pictures while capturing life’s moments to memorialize them in print for the local newspapers and for the active-adult community where she lives. She maintains a presence with the Black media and the National Association of Black Journalists to encourage peers, socialize, and mentor younger writers.

Education: Life learner who learns from life. Aside from the collegiate education received, she got the best training from on-the-job experience with former editors who went through copy with a red pen and demanded the best writing for hard news and feature stories. 

Random Fact: While a Delaware State News reporter, she could call then Sen. Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, usually late at night if a quote or input was needed for varying topics, including legislation and education.

Hobbies: Adopt rescue dogs and give them a nice home. Continuously read and critique news stories from various platforms.