On today’s episode, I’ll be reading you word-for-word the threatening notice I got about unintentional trademark infringement.
When I opened my DMs and saw the accusation, my gut DROPPED
I had just launched a new coaching program and hap haphazardly called it “The Start”.
The program was covering the first steps to starting a Virtual Assistant business so, “The START” seemed like a fitting name.
The announcement was probably on my Instagram for less than an hour when I saw the DM come in.
It read like this,
“Your story was sent to me by one of your followers.
I am sure you didn’t intentionally name your program the same name as mine.
However I own 2 trademarks on THE START so you’ll need to take down this post and rename your program something else.
Thanks for your prompt attention to this legal matter. I would really like to settle this ourselves.”
You can probably imagine the shock and the horror of being accused of a legal matter when you not only had ZERO intention on breaking any laws, but you were also so excited about the launch!
Biggest balloon deflation ever.
There were a few things that irked my about this message.
Firstly, my story was sent to her by one of my followers…. Did she have spies on the inside?? I immediately felt so unsafe in my own community. Who else was sending my stories and posts around and accusing me of bad things?
The second thing that irked me about the message… and eventually sort of impressed me… was that she even bothered to TRADEMARK a name for a program! And “The start”?? Come on!! That’s the most generic pair of words in the world! How are you even allowed? Now, I don’t know if I’m naive or perhaps I’m just too Canadian, but up to that point, I had never thought about taking exclusive ownership over any of my program titles!
And finally, the last line is the one I read over and over,
“Thanks for your prompt attention to this legal matter. I would really like to settle this ourselves.”
OURSELVES???
What’s the alternative?? We get our lawyers involved and go to battle over a name? I don’t even HAVE a lawyer!
This was a threat and I knew it. It was at this line that my horror turned to anger. How dare you threaten me with legal action right off the hop. How rude! You could have just asked me to change the name and we could have moved on merrily. But no, you had to threaten and intimidate me from the first message.
Rebecca doesn’t like bullies.
So, after reading the message, I immediately contacted my closest business besties. Venting, panicking, hating, feeling inferior. We voxed back and forth faster than a flock of gaggling geese.
We looked up her trademark, yup she owned it in the United States.
We read laws in Canada, the US, any global standards.
We suddenly became the most studious army of female besties to ever be under fire.
Look, it was no problem to change the name! She could have just asked. But it was the threats, and the trademarking, and the exposed ugly that I couldn’t wrap my head around.
After co-drafting up a response with the aid of my nearest and dearest I responded with,
“It’s no problem for me to change the name. Great minds think a like, obviously. I’ll find something else… In response to your last paragraphs, US trademarks do not extend into other countries. As I’m not in the US, it’s not a legal matter.”
I pressed send and felt great!
I made it clear that it was no big deal to change the name, plus I got to throw in a retaliation jab to her legal threat. I hate not standing up for myself and this response felt perfect. Until…
*ding* the sound of a new message…. The sound of my nightmares.
Her response read,
“It is a legal matter if:
Glad you’ll be changing the name and best of luck!”
…. Cue the 7 stages of grief.
WHY did this conversation even need to go this way?
HOW is it possible that a trademark in another country now holds power in EVERY country just because my IG posts are read by their citizens??
IT’S THE INTERNET FOR FUCKS SAKES!
I felt stupid.
How in all my research in drafting my response did that not come up??
My business confidence was shot. Was I supposed to be trademarking all my names?? Is this a key step I missed and it will burn me forever??
And I was humiliated.
Me. Rebecca.
A Virtual Assistant coach whose intentions are good and pure, now in a spitting match with another business woman over a petty legal matter.
…..
It was in that very moment that everything I loved about running a coaching business turned to ash. It wasn’t fun anymore. The dog-eat-dog world of success was not what I signed up for.
Now, I actually have no idea if this woman intended to have this affect on me. You could argue that by threatening me with a legal matter she’d “prefer to settle ourselves”, that she was hoping to have this affect on me… we’ll never know.
But in a classic motto of turning shit into gold, I renamed my program (EMERGE, which many of you loved) and pick up what was remaining of my confidence and tried to find the lessons.
A trademark is the name of your company, the name of your brand, your slogan or tagline and even your logo. Trademark needs to be used commercially for it to count. The copyright is the content. Under the law, the copyright for a creation belongs to the creator, which means you need to get a formal agreement expressed in writing that confirms that the ownership of the copyright transfers to you if you work with other creators.
Thank-you thinkific.com for those definitions
So do it! Trademarking the name of your business or product is something you can consider, and should consider. Why not?? If everyone else is doing it, then give it a go!
Search the trademark data base, in your country, in their country, fuck, check the whole world, and take the results into consideration. Trademarking doesn’t just protect against the exact duplication of the name, it also protects against any similar names that could become confusing to the consumer.
They have every right to be! But instead of feeling insulted that your idea was shared, understand that it is to be expected. Let’s not forget, the person who shared my post was correct in seeing I was using a trademarked name.
Gold star for you…
Let them be lessons that only redirect you somewhere healthier. You have the power to convert icky business situations into growth opportunities.
ie. Turn their shit into your gold
Everyone does business differently.
When I saw her protect her business with the aggression she did, I was almost in awe. Why didn’t I defend my business in the same way? Was her ego so fragile she had spies out in the world? Or was she a shark and I just a poorly minnow?
Like when past students create competing business, why don’t I fire them a DM and call it a legal matter? (that’s an episode for another time)
Or when a student defaults on a payment after milking my courses for all they’ve got, why isn’t my lawyer banging down their door?
Am I not strong enough?
I don’t know.
There’s no right or wrong answer.
I’ve let questionable business acts go unnoticed because it’s easier than facing them.
I’ve let clients break contracts without repercussion because it’s baggage I don’t want to drag around.
Is that because I’m above all that, or because I’m not willing to fight?
Based on your lens, you’ll have a different answer than the next reader.
This is what I do, though:
I love my business fiercely and when it comes under threat by someone doing shady shit, I take that information and build a stronger castle.
I get pickier with who I let into my world.
I adjust payment plans to limit students who are likely to default.
I edit my terms and conditions to encourage good business practices from others.
I become wiser in my mentorship so I can share my experiences and lessons with my students.
For as long as you are in business, you will come up against legal matters that sink you to your knees and humiliate you.
That’s just the growth.
Every time your business grows an inch, your lessons have to grow an inch as well. You can’t become more and more successful without going through all the lessons it takes to get there. You wouldn’t be prepared when you got there anyway.
For me, I renamed my coaching program and was able to teach another group of incredible students looking to become freelancers. That feeling of joy and purpose is so much stronger than the tough lesson I learned in order to get there.
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