‘Waco Feels Like Home’ mural sparks trademark dispute - Waco, TX
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WalksfarTX
N 31° 33.045 W 097° 07.843
14R E 677434 N 3492156
A young downtown Waco company will revamp a fairly new mural after the business and a former freelance graphic designer separately filed trademark documents for the saying “Waco Feels Like Home.”
Waymark Code: WMWDAM
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/18/2017
Views: 2
Waco Trib
Word made way to Boston shortly after a brightly colored mural depicting the Waco Hippodrome, the Magnolia Silos, the ALICO building and the phrase “Waco Feels Like Home” was painted across the back portion of The Findery, which opened a year ago in the former Percy Medicine building at South Eighth Street and Webster Avenue.
Mark Rockwell, who moved to Boston in September, had lived in Waco since 2005 and recently started receiving calls inquiring if he’d engaged in another Waco project.
He had not.
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Rockwell said he quit his job in 2012 to begin freelancing and, without a steady income and in an effort to raise money for a mission trip, he began making and selling shirts that read: “Waco Feels Like Home,” which can still be purchased at wacofeelslikehome.com.
So Rockwell said he was surprised and hurt to see his phrase lifted for another business’ use without credit.
But it wasn’t until after the mural at The Findery was complete that officials at the downtown antiques and home decor store realized someone else laid claim to the phrase, said Shelby Pipken, with Four Columns Marketing, which represents The Findery.
Overall, Rockwell said, all he ever wanted was credit for the phrase and for The Findery to stop selling products with the phrase on it.
Pipken said work will begin Tuesday to change The Findery’s mural.
She said products with images of the mural were only sold for a few days and were pulled off the shelves when Rockwell called.
“We’re not here to fight with other people in our own small city,” she said.