New York "retail designer" Ken Walker says he has spent $500,000 of his own money getting U.S. and international trademark registrations for "01-01-00" &£45;- the "language- independent" depiction of the first day of the next millennium that will be "easily recognized all over the world."

He is already licensing the digit sequence to fashion designers to put on T-shirts, clocks, baseball caps, even dinnerware. "The last new millennium wasn't very well-marketed," Walker claims. "Atilla the Hun really screwed up on the distribution. This time, though, I think everyone will get into the hoopla."

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