This digital stuff moves fast, even the catchphrases. That's why it's important to stake your claims. I got an e-mail from R/GA that included something unusual. Its standard phrase introducing the shop as "R/GA, the agency for the digital age" suddenly­ included a trademark symbol on the end of it. It turns out R/GA trademarked the phrase "the agency for the digital age" earlier this year. In fact, I was wondering which agency was the one for the digital age. Just to be sure, I asked Google. R/GA doesn't show up in the first few pages of results in searches for "agency for the digital age." Alas. R/GA's not the only one looking to grab futurey catchphrases. Avenue A/Razorfish has trademarked the phrase "social influence marketing." I can't help but wonder if this kind of stuff is really worth the time and effort. One Twitter user under the moniker MrT_TheAngel has his doubts: "'T' thinks those suckas should have a trademark on dumbass."

—Posted by Brian Morrissey