Oprah, Insurance Company in battle over use of the term “Aha Moment”

Oprah and a Nebraska Insurance company have become embroiled in a legal dispute over the use of the term “Aha Monent.”

After receiving a cease and desist over its “official sponsors of the Aha Moment” campaign, Mutual of Omaha has filed a lawsuit against Harpo Productions (Oprah’s production company) to protect its right to use the terms in advertising. This is where it gets strange: Harpo claims to own a trademark on “AHA! Moment,” yet Mutual of Omaha successfully registered the full slogan “official sponsors of the Aha Moment” as a trademark in February. Mutual of Omaha claims that because no one opposed their trademark application, they now have the rights to use the term.

Lawyers representing Oprah claim that the Mutual of Omaha campaign may lead fans to be misled into thinking Oprah was affiliated with the company, which is not an unreasonable contention, after all, “official sponsors of the Aha Moment” would suggests just that. Besides: why use the phrase at all if it wasn’t an attempt to cash in on Oprah; sure, Aha Moment might be common use, but “official sponsor of?” That’s trademark trolling at its worst.

Harpo said in a statment that they hope to reach an amicable resolution on this issue.