Minn. town gets 'Icebox of Nation' trademark

Colorado town had sought it after International Falls let title lapse

Video: Life

Bicycle built for three
July 25: Could a new japanese bicycle design one day replace your mini-van for transporting the kids? MSNBC.com's Keva Andersen reports.

Woman mauled by bear

American hero celebrates 99th birthday

Foreclosure prompts mom to kill self

Snooty the manatee turns 60

Stand and be counted

What keeps you up at night? Gut Check America wants you to tell us what really matters to our country. Click here to learn more and get involved.

NBC Field Notes

NBC News correspondents and producers across the U.S. shed light on the news of the day.

Photo features

AFP - Getty Images	The Week in Pictures A gaggle of geese, Russians in training and a refreshing California moment highlight a week of images.
AP	PhotoBlog View and discuss the pictures and issues that caught our eyes.

updated 12:38 p.m. ET Feb. 10, 2008

INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. - International Falls is officially the "Icebox of the Nation."

The city on the Canadian border had been fighting the ski town of Fraser, Colo., for the legal right to the trademark. International Falls claimed victory when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sent the city attorney a certificate granting the community Reg. No. 3,375,139.

"I ran over to the attorney's office and kissed the certificate," Mayor Shawn Mason said Friday. "Fraser's actions had sent a chill down my spine."

Story continues below ↓

Mason said more was at stake than bragging rights. She said International Falls has used the icebox title to market itself to industry as the nation's premier site for cold-weather testing.

"We're just thrilled the title has been confirmed," City Administrator Rod Otterness said. "We'll wait until next week to notify them of their copyright infringement. If Fraser wants to call itself the Icebox of Colorado, we have no problem."

International Falls and Fraser have fought over the title before.

City Attorney Joe Boyle said International Falls can prove that it has used the moniker since 1948. And the city has photographic proof that its 1955 Pee Wee hockey team traveled to Boston with jackets saying, "The Icebox of the Nation."

International Falls paid Fraser $2,000 in 1989 for dropping its claim to the title. But when the Minnesota community of 6,500 people failed to renew its trademark, the Colorado town of 1,000 jumped.

"They let it lapse and we thought, heck, if they don't want it, we do," Fraser Mayor Fran Cook said Friday. "This is the first I've heard of any resolution and I have to admit I'm surprised."

Cook said little will change even if Fraser's lawyers confirm defeat.

"It's something we've always gotten a kick out of and it will not disappear from the old-timers' lingo," she said.