This week, we reflect on some milestones, including more than 4,000 client trademark registrations at the USPTO and more than 100 five-star reviews on Google.

A trademark can be anything that indicates the source of a business’ products or services. However, not all trademarks are created equal – which is where creativity and context come into play. Erik shares more details in this podcast.

Recently a new scam targeting trademark filers features telephone calls purporting to be from USPTO examiners. This is yet another reason to work with an experienced attorney – the USPTO will never contact an applicant directly when they have counsel of record. For more about avoiding and dealing with trademark scams, see Is This A Trademark Scam® at www.isthisatrademarkscam.com.

Registration of a trademark with the USPTO acts like both a smoke detector and a fire extinguisher. The registration works like a detector to help minimize the chances of an infringement situation, and it acts like an extinguisher to help extinguish infringements that arise quicker and easier.  In short, there is no more powerful tool to protect a brand than trademark registration. For more information, visit TRADEMARKIVE® at https://www.erikpelton.com/trademarkive/.

Have you seen our new short videos featuring on location brand and trademark tips You can find Brands on the RunSM on TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@makingtrademarksbloom) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/making_trademarks_bloom/reels/) or YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@makingtrademarksbloom/shorts). Let us know what you think!

The big game this Sunday features many trademark stories, from the quarterbacks to the Kelce Brothers, and much more. Listen as Erik breaks down the two teams, the players, and their trademarks, with apologies to inadvertently missed Rihanna, the halftime performer, and her great portfolio of marks for her music and her Fenty brand.

A recent study, Lessons from USPTO Trademark Prosecution Data, uses data from the USPTO records over four decades to show that working with an attorney improves the odds of success when applying to register a trademark. The full study by Deborah R. Gerhart and Jon J. Lee, published by the International Trademark Association’s Trademark Reporter, is available at https://www.inta.org/wp-content/uploads/public-files/resources/the-trademark-reporter/TMR-Vol-112-No-06_Gerhardt-Lee.pdf.

Take a tour to find out how our trademark videos and podcasts are made! Erik shares the video and podcast recording studio details and specifics regarding the camera, microphone, computer, lighting, and other equipment use to make a high-quality podcast and YouTube video channel.

Did you know that we created a free secure online tool for tracking USPTO applications and registrations? We launched sofTMware® 10 years ago and now it tracks tens of thousands USPTO records for several hundred users. See for yourself at www.softmware.com.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ChatGPT has been the new a lot lately. How might it impact the world of trademarks and trademark attorneys? Listen for Erik’s comments.