Thursday, January 25, 2007

Money Honey: The Series for Children?

You know her as Money Honey and maybe Econo Babe, but is Maria Bartiromo ready to cede these nicknames to Lindsay Campbell at WallStrip?

I didn't think so. That was until I read TheStreet.com's prediction that Ms. Bartiromo would leave CNBC. But I was still skeptical. Then I read that she wants to use "Money Honey" for the name of a children's television series. That's a move I didn't anticipate.

Where'd I get this crazy idea?

On 5 January 2007 the domain, moneyhoney.tv, was privately registered and is currently parked. But that could've been anybody trying to make some cash from Ms. Bartiromo's tag.

But only 11 days later, Ms. Bartiromo filed eight different documents with the United States Patent & Trademark Office to protect the phrase, Money Honey, for a variety of products and merchandise related to "entertainment and educational programming for children," including "an ongoing children's television series."

I e-mailed the attorney of record, Jean Voutsinas (at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz), to get confirmation and/or additional information from Ms. Bartiromo, but my request was ignored.

If this idea comes to fruition, I can imagine a lot of fathers encouraging their children to learn about stocks and personal finance on Saturday mornings just so they can watch Ms. Bartiromo. Maybe that's how she'll reach her real demo — the children's series is just a ruse.

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