Officials in International Falls, Minn., on Monday vowed to defend their expired trademark to the nickname “Icebox of the Nation,” heating up a cold war with Fraser after the Colorado town claimed the moniker in a filing earlier this month.
The Minnesotans, who held an emergency meeting on the holiday, said they were not aware they had to renew the trademark in 1996 until they heard about it from a Denver Post reporter. They groused that they once paid $2,000 to Fraser for the uncontested rights to the name’s use.
“We were surprised to hear that Fraser is doing this because we thought we had a deal with them,” said Rod Otterness, the International Falls city administrator. “The town of Fraser conceded this trademark and signed it over to the city of International Falls 17 years ago.”
Otterness, International Falls Mayor Shawn Mason and City Attorney Joe Boyle indicated the city inadvertently failed to renew the trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 1996, and they weren’t aware of the lapse because they didn’t receive a notice.
Jeff Durbin, town manager of Fraser, said he believes the Grand County town has a stronger claim, having documented the use of the icebox title since 1956, some 24 years before International Falls, a frigid outpost on the Canadian border.
“The most important piece, in terms of whether or not you can get the trademark, is who started using the trademark first,” he said last week.
Boyle, however, said International Falls should be able to convince the patent office that it has not abandoned the trademark, despite the 10-year lapse.
“The fact is that the use has been going on,” Boyle said. “This is something that’s part of the fabric of International Falls.”
Even after ceding the icebox title in 1986, Fraser has continued to use it informally. Fraser, which boasts an average annual temperature of 34.8 degrees and periodically hits lows of minus 40 in the winter, sits in a mountain valley where particularly cold air settles.
According to a USA Today weather analysis, Stanley, Idaho, has posted the coldest temperature in the nation on the most days since 1995, followed by West Yellowstone, Mont.; Gunnison; Truckee, Calif.; and Saranac Lake, N.Y.
During that period, Fraser has posted the nation’s low 103 times – less than one-fourth of the days that Stanley has claimed the title – and International Falls has held it 75 times.
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
