Gemini Giant

Last updated
Gemini Giant
Gemini Giant on 66.jpg
General information
StatusUndergoing restoration
Year(s) built1964;60 years ago (1964) [1]
Renovated2019;5 years ago (2019) [2] 2024;0 years ago (2024) [3]
Owner Joliet Area Historical Museum [4]
Height30 ft [5]
Dimensions
Weight438 lbs [5]
Technical details
MaterialFiberglass [5]
Awards and prizesIllinois Route 66 Hall of Fame [6]
Renovating team
Main contractor2019: John Mercer [2] 2024: [Re]Giant [7]

The Gemini Giant is a landmark statue on U.S. Route 66 at the eastern entrance to Wilmington, IL. Currently in storage, the statue previously stood outside the Launching Pad Restaurant from 1965 to 2024. The 30 foot tall statue is one of many giant "Muffler Man" advertising props found throughout the US in the 1960s. The Gemini Giant is named after the Gemini space program and holds a silver "rocket ship" in his hands, while sporting an astronaut's space helmet that resembles a welding mask. [8] [9]

Contents

History

John and Bernice Korelc opened a Dari-Delight restaurant in 1960 at the present day location of the Launching Pad. The proprietors bought a 438-pound fiberglass Muffler Man figure for $3,500 at the annual National Restaurant Association convention. [10] Seeking to capitalize on America's fascination with the Space Race, they rebranded the restaurant as the "Launching Pad" and had the statue outfitted as an astronaut with helmet and rocket. A naming contest was held at the local grade school to give the statue a new moniker, and Cathy Thomas's suggestion of "Gemini Giant" was selected as the winner. [11] Since then, the Giant has become famous iconography of Route 66, often appearing national and international media alongside stories about the Mother Road. Its continued presence in Wilmington has become one of the most photographed destinations for travelers making the Route 66 journey. [12]

The history of the Gemini Giant and Launching Pad are intertwined. The Giant's attractiveness as a tourist photo stop has brought more visibility to the business than a small, local, independent fast food restaurant could expect to receive otherwise, while the restaurant's success is needed to keep the Giant where it has stood since 1965.

Korelc retired from full time work in 1986, but would continue to assist his daughter Sharon at the restaurant. [13]

Both the Launching Pad and the Gemini Giant were inducted into the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame in 2000. [14]

2007 to Present

In 2007, Morey Szczecin purchased the Launching Pad and Gemini Giant from Sharon and her husband Jerry Gatties, marking the first time the restaurant and statue were owned by an individual outside of the founding family. The business struggled and began closing seasonally, and closed in 2010. [15] Szczecin listed the property for sale with an asking price of $650,000. [16]

An auction was held in April 2016, with a local couple submitting the high bid of $177,500. The bid failed to meet the reserve price of the auction, and the buyers and sellers could not come to an agreement in negotiations following the auction. [15]

The property would remain vacant until late 2017, [17] when the building, contents, and statue were purchased by the Gemini Giant LLC for a combined $300,000. [18]

The business was forced to close as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Launching Pad Restaurant received a Paycheck Protection Program loan of $31,868 to maintain 25 reported jobs on May 6, 2020. [19] They received a second round loan of $44,615 on March 10, 2021, this time reporting only six jobs. [20] Both loans were forgiven. [19] [20]

The restaurant was approved for a Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant of $456,047 on May 19, 2021. [21]

Efforts to sell the shuttered Launching Pad restaurant and the Gemini Giant were derailed in early January 2024

Removal of Gemini Giant from Launching Pad after auction GeminiGiantMoved.jpg
Removal of Gemini Giant from Launching Pad after auction

The Gemini Giant was auctioned off on March 20, 2024. The winning bid was $275,000. [22] A City of Wilmington press release announced the winning bid was made by the Joliet Area Historical Museum utilizing a state grant, and that the statue was donated to Wilmington and will be displayed at the South Island Park. [3] The donation part of that press release was later shown to be untrue when a museum loan agreement was entered into the public record as part of the agenda for a May 14, 2024 Wilmington Committee of the Whole meeting. The museum is retaining ownership of the Gemini Giant and entered into two year loan agreement with Wilmington, ending on March 20, 2026. [4]

A public party celebrating the return of the Gemini Giant is scheduled for November 30, 2024. [23]

Trademark Disputes

Just weeks after Holly Barker's purchase of the Gemini Giant was made public, Jeffrey Vilt of neighboring Coal City filed a trademark application for the phrase "Launching Pad Gemini Giant" for use on merchandise. [24] Vilt had no connection to any of Barker, the Gemini Giant, or the Launching Pad. After a lengthy dispute with Barker over the matter, eventually Vilt's attorney withdrew as counsel in 2019, [25] and the trademark application was officially declared abandoned in 2021 because Vilt never filed a statement of use in the prior four years, and had failed to request an extension. [26]

Barker filed her own trademark application for "Gemini Giant" to be used on merchandise on November 28, 2017. [27] Following the abandonment of Vilt's application, Barker's application was allowed in May 2022. [28] However, she too failed to submit a statement of use and this application was also abandoned. [29]

Another application, this time for "Launching Pad Gemini Giant" and including the image of the Giant, was filed for use in fast-food restaurant services. [30] The application was initially refused due to the likelihood of confusion with the prior registered trademark granted to the Launch Pad Brewery located in Colorado. [31] This application was abandoned when Barker again failed to respond to the USPTO. [32]

A third application filed by Barker, now for "Launching Pad Gemini Giant" and including the image of the Giant, for use on clothing remains live but suspended [33] due once again to Barker's failure to respond to a USPTO required submission of a specimen of use. [34]

A further application made on behalf of the Launching Pad Restaurant LLC, for the wordmark "Launching Pad" in use for a retail gift shop, museum and welcome center, and restaurant services, was filed in 2018. [35] The application was abandoned in Summer 2023, again due to a failure to submit a statement of use. [36]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilmington, Illinois</span> City in Illinois, United States

Wilmington is a city in Will County, Illinois, United States. Located on Illinois Route 53 and Historic U.S. Route 66 along the east bank of the Kankakee River, it is approximately 60 miles (97 km) south-west from downtown Chicago. The population was 5,664 at the 2020 census. Wilmington is just south of Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, which is home to the largest bison herd in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kleenex</span> Brand name for a variety of paper-based products

Kleenex is a brand name primarily known for their line of facial tissues. Often used informally as a genericized trademark for facial tissue, Kleenex is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark applied to products made in 78 countries. The brand has other paper products like napkins and toilet roll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Patent and Trademark Office</span> United States national patent bureau

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexandria, Virginia, after a 2005 move from the Crystal City area of neighboring Arlington, Virginia.

A patent examiner is an employee, usually a civil servant with a scientific or engineering background, working at a patent office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Design patent</span> US Patent Law

In the United States, a design patent is a form of legal protection granted to the ornamental design of an article of manufacture. Design patents are a type of industrial design right. Ornamental designs of jewelry, furniture, beverage containers and computer icons are examples of objects that are covered by design patents.

In most patent laws, unity of invention is a formal administrative requirement that must be met for a patent application to proceed to grant. An issued patent can claim only one invention or a group of closely related inventions. The purpose of this requirement is administrative as well as financial. The requirement serves to preclude the possibility of filing one patent application for several inventions, while paying only one set of fees. Unity of invention also makes the classification of patent documents easier.

Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited time from profiting from a patented technology without the consent of the patent holder. Specifically, it is the right to exclude others from: making, using, selling, offering for sale, importing, inducing others to infringe, applying for an FDA approval, and/or offering a product specially adapted for practice of the patent.

The Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) is published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for use by patent attorneys and agents and patent examiners. It describes all of the laws and regulations that must be followed in the examination of U.S. patent applications, and articulates their application to an enormous variety of different situations. The MPEP is based on Title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which derives its authority from Title 35 of the United States Code, as well as on case law arising under those titles. The origins of the Manual date back to a 1920 Patent and Trademark Office Society publication known as the "Wolcott Manual". "One of the most fruitful endeavors of the [Patent and Trademark Office] Society in the area of education was the publication of the first Manual of Patent Office Procedure. The first Manual was written by two employees of the Office and was published in 1920 by the Society. This Manual, with its eight revisions, often referred to as Wolcott's Manual, was the only procedural manual available until 1949 when the Patent Office assumed the publication of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure."

GoToMyPC is remote desktop software that allows users to access computers remotely using a web browser. It was developed by ExpertCity and launched in 1998. Citrix Systems acquired ExpertCity in 2004 and maintained the GoToMyPC brand and services. Citrix spun off the GoTo products, which were acquired by LogMeIn in early 2017. There are three versions: "Personal", "Pro", and "Corporate".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of United States inventions (after 1991)</span>

A timeline of United States inventions encompasses the ingenuity and innovative advancements of the United States within a historical context, dating from the Contemporary era to the present day, which have been achieved by inventors who are either native-born or naturalized citizens of the United States. Patent protection secures a person's right to his or her first-to-invent claim of the original invention in question, highlighted in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution which gives the following enumerated power to the United States Congress:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

In order to be registered as a patent agent or patent attorney in the United States, one must pass the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) registration examination, officially called the Examination for Registration to Practice in Patent Cases Before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and known informally as the patent bar.

A trademark examiner is an attorney employed by a government entity such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to determine whether an applicant should be permitted to receive a trademark registration, thus affording legal protection to the applicant's trademark. The job of a trademark examiner is thus to examine marks applied for to determine if they run afoul of any prohibitions on registration, such as infringing upon an existing registration of the same mark, or constituting the generic name of the goods with which the mark is associated.

The copyright status of the content of patent applications and patents may vary from one legal system to another. Whether scientific literature can be freely copied for the purpose of patent prosecution is also a matter for discussion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muffler man</span> Large fiberglass roadside advertising figure

Muffler men are large molded fiberglass sculptures that are placed as advertising icons, roadside attractions, or for decorative purposes, predominantly in the United States. Standing approximately 18–25 ft (5.5–7.6 m) tall, the first figure was a Paul Bunyan character designed to hold an axe. Derivatives of that figure were widely used to hold full-sized car mufflers, tires, or other items promoting various roadside businesses.

The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a set of initiatives for providing accelerated patent prosecution procedures by sharing information between some patent offices. It also permits each participating patent office to benefit from the work previously done by the other patent office, with the goal of reducing examination workload and improving patent quality.

The registration of the "Surf City USA" trademark inflamed a historical dispute between the California coastal cities of Huntington Beach and Santa Cruz. Both cities claimed the "Surf City" nickname, but after the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau filed three trademark applications for "Surf City USA" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2004, a new conflict erupted, a controversy Surfer dubbed "Moniker-gate." The resulting publicity generated the equivalent of several million dollars in advertising with thousands of stories and news reports broadcast across the globe. A lawsuit was eventually settled in January 2008 which validated Huntington Beach's exclusive rights to the trademark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trademark</span> Trade identifier of products or services

A trademark is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a product or service from a particular source and distinguishes it from others. Trademarks can also extend to non-traditional marks like drawings, symbols, 3D shapes like product designs or packaging, sounds, scents, or specific colors used to create a unique identity. For example, Pepsi® is a registered trademark associated with soft drinks, and the distinctive shape of the Coca-Cola® bottle is a registered trademark protecting Coca-Cola's packaging design.

The Joliet Area Historical Museum is a historical museum located in Joliet, Illinois. The museum documents the history of Joliet and surrounding Will County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrei Iancu</span> Romanian-American engineer and attorney (born 1968)

Andrei Iancu is a Romanian-American engineer and intellectual property attorney, who served as the under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) from 2017 to 2021. He was nominated for both positions in 2017 by President Donald Trump. He left office on January 20, 2021. He is currently a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell's intellectual property & technology practice.

References

  1. ↑ "Wilmington's Gemini Giant Stands Tall in the History of Route 66". Heritage Corridor Destinations. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Warnick, Ron (June 8, 2019). "Restoration of Gemini Giant completed". Route 66 News. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Gemini Giant To Stay In Wilmington". Archived from the original on March 20, 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Agenda - Committee of the Whole - May 14, 2024" (PDF). City of Wilmington. May 14, 2024. p. 20-21. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 25, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Joyce, Katy Spratte. "Reviving a Giant". Route Magazine. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Route 66 Association of Illinois Hall of Fame Members". Route 66 Association of Illinois. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  7. ↑ "reMoving A Giant". YouTube. April 21, 2024.
  8. ↑ "Wilmington, Illinois - Home of the Gemini Giant". Archived from the original on June 8, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  9. ↑ "The Launching Pad Diner" . Retrieved June 6, 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. ↑ Bungartz, Amanda (May 22, 2019). "Ready for liftoff: A resurrected Route 66 diner serves up hot fudge sundaes with a side of grief counseling". Roadtrippers Magazine. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  11. ↑ Voigt, Jason (November 21, 2020). "Bunyon's Statue Historical Marker". The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  12. ↑ Searl, Ryan (March 11, 2021). "Legendary Route 66 Sights: The Gemini Giant". The First Hundred Miles. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021.
  13. ↑ Warnick, Ron (July 24, 2007). "Creator of the Launching Pad restaurant dies". Route 66 News.
  14. ↑ Warnick, Ron (December 6, 2017). "Launching Pad's new owners launch crowdfunding site". Route 66 News. Archived from the original on September 9, 2018.
  15. 1 2 Warnick, Ron (April 11, 2016). "Launching Pad Drive-In fails to sell at auction". Route 66 News. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Wilmington: Launching Pad for sale". The Daily Journal. January 26, 2011. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  17. ↑ Ferak, John (May 14, 2019). "Once in Ruins, Route 66's Launching Pad Now Open Daily". Joliet Patch.
  18. ↑ "Price & Sales History". Coldwell Banker. Archived from the original on October 29, 2023.
  19. 1 2 "Launching Pad Restaurant PPP Loan, First Round". Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  20. 1 2 "Launching Pad Restaurant PPP Loan, Second Round". Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Restaurant Revitalization Fund". U.S. Small Business Administration. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  22. ↑ "The Launching Pad, Lot #1". Grafe Auction. Archived from the original on March 20, 2024.
  23. ↑ "Wilmington To Officially Unveil Gemini Giant On November 30th". WJOL. October 24, 2024. Archived from the original on November 15, 2024.
  24. ↑ Vilt, Jeffrey (November 3, 2017). "Trademark/Service Mark Application No: 87670391". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023.
  25. ↑ Keener, Kevin (October 18, 2019). "Motion to Withdraw as Counsel". United States Patent and Trademark Office.
  26. ↑ "ITU Unit Action". United States Patent and Trademark Office. December 21, 2021.
  27. ↑ "Trademark/Service Mark Application No. 87699564". United States Patent and Trademark Office. November 28, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Notice of Allowance". United States Patent and Trademark Office. May 31, 2022.
  29. ↑ "Official USPTO Notice of Abandonment". United States Patent and Trademark Office.
  30. ↑ "Trademark/Service Mark Application No. 88451549". United States Patent and Trademark Office. May 29, 2019.
  31. ↑ "Nonfinal Office Action". United States Patent and Trademark Office. August 26, 2019.
  32. ↑ "Official USPTO Notice of Abandonment". United States Patent and Trademark Office. October 1, 2020.
  33. ↑ "Trademark Status, No. 88455142". United States Patent and Trademark Office. March 29, 2023.
  34. ↑ "Suspension Notice". United States Patent and Trademark Office. September 16, 2020.
  35. ↑ "Trademark/Service Mark Application No. 87774573". United States Patent and Trademark Office. January 29, 2018.
  36. ↑ "Official USPTO Notice of Abandonment". United States Patent and Trademark Office. July 17, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.