Cafe Hon owner defends herself against criticism that she trademarked the word 'hon' for financial gain
Dense Whiting says she'll sue those who use her oval logo
By Larry Perl
Denise Whiting, owner of Cafe Hon and founder of the annual HonFest celebration in Hampden, said she thinks controversy about her branding the word 'hon' -- including registering it as a federal trademark -- is being blown out of proportion by merchants and the media. Whiting is pictured here at last June's HonFest. (2010 File photo by Kitty Charlton)
Denise Whiting, owner of Cafe Hon and founder of the annual HonFest celebration in Hampden, said she thinks controversy about her branding the word ‘hon’ — including registering it as a federal trademark — is being blown out of proportion by merchants and the media.
“Am I going to go after everybody that uses the word ‘hon’? No,” she said.
But she said that if people try to sell merchandise with her trademarked oval logo on it, “I’ll sue their pants off.”
She also said the trademarking is “old news,” because she began to register “hon” in various categories, known as classes, nearly 10 years ago. She said she has registered the word as a trademark when it is used on merchandise such as T-shirts, coffee mugs and bumper stickers, among other categories.
“I have done nothing wrong,” she said.
Whiting was responding to criticism by some merchants and users of the word “hon” that she is monopolizing a word in the public domain for her own financial gain.
The outcry followed a story in the Messenger on Thursday about Whiting taking over Hometown Girl, a gift and novelty store on The Avenue, and renaming it HONtown.
Whiting said in the story that HONtown — which is now partly a purveyor of old-style candies — would help brand the ‘hon’ name.
She also said in the story that she had trademarked the word and had entered into a licensing agreement with the Maryland Transit Administration to allow the MTA to use the ‘hon’ logo in advertisements for the MTA’s new fare card, the Charm Card.
She said her licensing agreement with the MTA in July is the newer news.
But Whiting’s mention of having registered the word took many in the community by surprise Thursday. Some regular users of the word were irate; others called their attorneys.
William Tandy, who publishes a longtime zine called “Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore!” said the publication has been registered with the Library of Congress since 2004.
“I’ve spoken with my attorney and I have no concerns regarding the good standing of the publication,” Tandy said in an e-mail.
But Tandy criticized what he said is Whiting’s “appropriation of a common, colloquial term of endearment, used by countless Baltimoreans for as many years, for no reason beyond personal financial gain.”
“While I do not begrudge Ms. Whiting her right to pursue a comfortable living,” Tandy went on, “she has clearly overstepped her bounds in her pursuit of proprietary lordship over common language.”
Benn Ray, president of the Hampden Village Merchants Association and owner of the store Atomic Books, said facetiously he might try to register the words “atomic” and “Hampden.”
“A hon is a type of person,” Ray said. “It doesn’t even belong to Hampden.”
But Elissa Strati, owner of Avenue Antiques, sided wth Whiting.
“I’m not concerned in the least,” Strati said. “From my standpoint, it makes perfect sense that she’s trying to protect something she built.”
That was Whiting’s point in telling an anecdote about confronting someone who was selling hon-themed merchandise at the BWI airport. They reached a deal that resulted in her removing the merchandise, then giving much of it away to people in the Inner Harbor.
But she said she used some of the merchandise to show people in a speech she gave to the group National Main Streets. The topic of the speech, she said, was “protecting what you have.”
Although she pooh-pooed the controversy, she said it has an upside.
“This really brands the city with ‘hon’,” she said.
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