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Martha Stewart Living with Opposition

Tue., Mar. 27, 2007 1:57 PM PDT by Sarah Hall

Martha Stewart's plan to trademark the name of her hometown of Katonah, New York, is not a good thing, at least as far as some of her neighbors are concerned.

The Katonah Village Improvement Society voted Monday to allow its trademark committee to take the necessary steps to block the domestic diva from securing rights to the town's name.

The vote authorized the committee to spend up to $200 in legal costs in order to file formal opposition to Stewart's trademark application. The town has until Apr. 11 to make its case before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The homemaking maven has been the subject of ongoing controversy in the posh Westchester County community since revealing in January that she wanted to license the town's name for use in her various business ventures.

Stewart already sells a high-end line of furniture called the Katonah Collection and has expressed interested in marketing a distinctive line of Katonah-inspired paint colors, in addition to other household products.

However, her fellow Katonah citizens are apparently less than thrilled about their town's name becoming part of the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia brand and are prepared to do what they can to stop her.

"My personal feeling is that they are just waiting to see if we have the stomach to proceed to any degree [with opposition]," Bill Tisherman, vice president of the Katonah Village Improvement Society, said at Monday's meeting, per the Lower Hudson Journal News.

"If we don't proceed, then we lose...there's nobody else who's going to oppose it."

Stewart previously tried to sweeten the trademark deal with her neighbors at a Feb. 6 meeting, which she attended armed with her signature chocolate chip cookies.

Meanwhile, John Cuti, an attorney for MSLO, penned a letter to the Katonah Village Improvement Society last month, explaining that a trademark on the town's name would not give Stewart the ability to prevent others in the community from using the name as they always have.

Cuti also pointed out that trademarks on place names are relatively common, citing Nantucket Nectars and Philadelphia Cream Cheese as examples.

But the Katonah Village Improvement Society was not prepared to budge. In a Feb. 15 letter to MSLO, Tisherman explained that the "idea of any corporation or individual attempting to establish any 'Katonah' trademark defies the spirit of our village."

Stewart, 63, purchased her spacious Katonah farm in 2000 for $16 million. In 2005, she was confined to the property for five months as part of her sentence for lying about a stock sale.

In Martha news from the opposite coast, the lifestyles guru announced Tuesday that she would be collaborating with KB Home to develop her latest residential community in Lancaster, California.

The new community, dubbed Terreno Vista, will feature homes based on Stewart's own residences in Maine and New York, but with far more affordable price tags. The project is expected to be completed this fall.

"I'm delighted to be building this wonderful new community of specially designed Martha Stewart/KB homes in Lancaster, California," Stewart said in a statement.

"Terreno Vista buyers will find beautiful and affordably priced homes in an area distinguished by glorious weather, as well as easy access to the cultural offerings of Los Angeles."

Of course, potential buyers should be also aware of the possibility that they may one day have to share their community's name with a signature line of Martha Stewart patio furniture.