When it comes to first mover advantage, and avoiding a problem of your trademark and tradename becoming a generic, Rollerblade is a watershed name. It is not clear to us if they were the first to really invent skating shoes with wheels aligned along a blade style, as opposed to traditional roller skates, but they certainly were (and still are) the big brand name in the business.

When other people started making competitive products, Rollerblade had to fight to protect their trademark. The industry said fine, but then what do we call our products if Rollerblade is your registered trademark? So Rollerblade Inc. educated everyone that the generic word to use for a category descriptor was "in-line skates".

And ever since they have vigorously defended the usage of Rollerblade as their trademark and not a generic descriptor, even though not everyone knows that. In fact, there are still some pending trademark applications that will surely fail as they say they want to use the name on rollerblades.

Had they not done so, this name would be generic, and not a big brand. So we offer it up here as a lesson to all who have products or companies that are early movers in an industry. If you have a name that is likely to be wanted by all, and used widely as a descriptor, lock it down tightly and give the industry and analysts some other word to use for the category.

This logo may indeed rate a full 10, as it appears cleverer the more you study it. And we know the product is mostly black and white, but a little color might have made it really superb.

Visit them online at www.rollerblade.com even though they are now part of the giant Nordica ski company.

P.S. Did you know it was Rollerblade (singular) and not Rollerblades? Strange, but true. Hence a less than perfect score.