August 26, 2024 • 49 mins
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@breannaaponte
@thesoftlifeceo
Website:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com
Community:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com/society
Free Training:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com/free-training-optin
YouTube:
@thesoftlifeceo
Relationship Restored:
www.relationshiprestored.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's different categories that those trademarks have to be fout
in based upon how you're using it and what you're selling.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hey, I'm Brianna Aponte, your host of the Self Life
CEO podcast. I dropped out of college at the age
of nineteen to start my first business. I worked seven
days a week, wore way too many hats, and was
the true definition of a hustler. Years later, I'm finally
living the dream that I worked so hard to make
my reality. I've transitioned from a hustler to a self
life CEO, working only two days a week to maintain
(00:29):
and run a high earning business that gives me the
freedom to live a life I love. Now it's my
mission to help as many entrepreneurs as I can elevate
their brand, increase their income, and reclaim their time. Join
me and guest experts as we share our transparent journeys,
work smart and not hard strategies, and the behind the
scenes of running a successful brand in business. You're tuned
in to the Self Life CEO today, I have the
(00:51):
pleasure of having to Cora Davis here, who is a
renowned trademark attorney dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and business owners
protect their intellectual property and build illegally sound brands. With
an extensive experience in trademark law and a passion for
empowering business owners, she has become the trusted advocate for
entrepreneurs in our community, me included. Her approach is both
(01:13):
practical and informative, making complex legal processes accessible to all.
I have brought her on as a guest today because
I have had the pleasure of working with her recently
and can't wait to dive into what that has been like.
So everybody say, what's up to my girls?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Cool? What an amazing introduction, the best I've had yet.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
But you deserve it. You know. It's one thing to
talk about someone when you watch them from afar. It's
another to talk about someone when you actually get to
experience them working in their genius, which is what I
got to do with you. So I want to start
this episode off by having you share with us what
your entrepreneurial journey has been like and what the heck
got you into being a attorney in the first place.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Oh my goodness. So I've always said that I wanted
to be an attorney ever since I saw Johnny Cochrane
represent Oh Simpson in the fourth grade, and I'd never
seen such a powerful black man and my dad and
Johnny Copper actually favored like my dad had the same
type of glasses, had the same skin tone, and a
very same powerful presence.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
So I was saying, Daddy, who is he? What is
he doing? He said he's a lawyer. And I said
what do lawyers do? And he said they help people?
And I said do they make a lot of money?
He said, oh, yeah, they do.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
But you know, throughout years, I kind of deviated from
saying I wanted to be an attorney, and then I said, okay,
I'll pursue being a doctor. Actually have a biology degree,
and so when I was conducting research on genetically modified
tomatoes and undergrad I've actually heard about intellectual property byway
of doctor Wendy Boss, who was my plant physiology professor,
(02:48):
and she spoke about we need scientists in Washington who
understand laws, and she started talking about patents and trademarks.
I'm like, what I thought, to go to law school
and to be a lawyer if you had to maybe
make in political science or history. So it kind of
sparked again that child like childhood dream of being an attorney,
(03:09):
but with a twist, and so I ended up pursuing
law school and then after law school, I got a job,
and long story short, there was a terrible and toxic
work environment that I worked in initially when I had
my baby aspired when my son was ten days old,
he told me, you know what, I think, you need
(03:29):
to focus on getting over your pregnancy brain. So with
my pregnancy brain, I launched an amazing multi six and
seven fig year law firm that employs other women and
creates a safe place for other women to work. And
I get to work with some of the most amazing
and creative women business owners and founders of color in
(03:52):
the entire world, hands down. So I'm thankful for you know,
the doubts. I always say, he gave me the gift
of doubts. And with people, do you, it can spark
something amazing and creative venue if you allowed to feel
you in the right direction. So that's a little bit
of my entrepreneurial journey, probably the shortest that I've ever
told that story before.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
That is so interesting. Like I the thought of seeing
somebody on TV, well, I mean, I guess I kind
of had a similar reaction to like what I thought
I wanted to be. I always wanted to be a
teacher because I just thought my first grade teacher was
like the best person in the Hawaii world. So I
was like, I'm going to be her when I grow up.
As you see, I did not end up being her,
(04:34):
but you know, I started that journey. But I think
that's really cool that you were able to kind of
give us all the different dynamics of like what got
you here in such a snippet. I mean, so, yeah,
that's amazing. I do have a few questions about your story.
So one, oh my gosh, schooling. Every time I think
of lawyers, I'm like, poor baby, they went to school forever.
(04:55):
How many years of schooling did it take? Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Well, you know you have to get your traditional undergraduate degree,
so however long that takes you to get it. And
then there's three years of law school go full time,
and for those who go part time, it's generally four years.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
So so like, yeah, I was, letna say, it sounds
like seven to nine if you really you know, stretch
it out. Wow wow wow wow. Well, thankfully you put
in all that work and you know we're here now, because,
like I said, I had an amazing experience working through you,
so I want to jump into that as kind of
our the talking points that will lead into some of
(05:29):
the other questions that I have. But to give you
all some background, you all should know by now that
my husband is a stickler for following the rules and
doing things the right way. If it was up to me,
I would try to get away with whatever I could
before doing the right thing. It's a really bad, bad
trade of mine that luckily my husband bounces out. And
(05:50):
so when we made the switch from all about your
brand to the Soft Life CEO, of course Dre was like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You know, we got to talk about this is like,
this is a very vague term, Like are you sure
no one's using it? What is the risks that you're
taking by changing the name to this? There were all
of these questions that he had, and you know, me,
(06:12):
I'm like, I mean, I don't know, but it'll be okay.
And then I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute.
I thought back to this event that I did and
I was like, I met this amazing lawyer who I
know can help me, and I remember looking her up
going to her page, and I was like, Creator's Law Firm.
Sounds like she literally works for people like me. So
(06:33):
I did some digging and I went through your page
and I remembered why I enjoyed meeting you in the
first place, and I was like, let me just reach
out and see if this is something she can help with.
And so to Car, I want you to run everyone
through the process of what it looked like from start
to where we are now with my trademark, and essentially
(06:55):
maybe like break down the phases of like what happens
first before someone actually becomes client, and then once they're
a client of yours, what the process looks like to
the finish line.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
We allow folks to schedule a free call with us
and they can get general information about our packages, our pricing,
and our process, and that really kind of breaks down
those barriers because, honestly, let's be real, y'all, talking to
attorneys is scary. Most of the time. You have to
talk to an attorney when you're in trouble, right, So
most people aren't talking to attorneys when the best things
(07:25):
are happening in their life. But I get the privilege
of representing people when they're at the cusp of something
big or their next big thing, and so always speak
with a trusted advisor. So first you schedule a call,
and then you will speak with me or a member
of my team about what's actually happening in your business.
And so during that process of sharing ideas and your
(07:47):
hopes and your dreams and the transformative promise that your
product or your program provides to your particular target audience,
then we recommend whatever service we feel as best to
help cover your idea. And so during that time a
lot of people are coming to me and saying, hey,
I have this product or this program or this podcast
(08:09):
or this new amazing thing insert that thing here, and say, okay,
if we want to protect it before you launched the world,
let's trademarket. From there, you start with the process, which
is you get the contract, sign the contract, give me
a couple of band Franklins, and then you know you're
onboarded by a member of my team. And so I
(08:31):
have a smart trademark process. We talk about we help
people protect their smarts, and I'm happy to go through
those five phases now. So the S phase and smart
is where you actually schedule your intake call with a
member of my team. It's going to be my pair
of Leegal, my pair of Legal Niza is amazing, been
trained very very well in the creator's off firm way
(08:52):
and standard, and she welcomes clients into the firm, gets
their information, evidence of how they're using the trademark data.
First use basically everything that the legal tea needs to
actually move you to the next space, which is M
and an M of smart we map out your best
path forward. That's when I'm looking and I'm seeing, are
(09:12):
there any legal land mines or legal targets on your
businesses back that will prevent you getting into a trademark
or your trademark application from maturing into a registration. And
this is the part where a lot of people skip.
They think, I did a Google search, I'm good, or
I searched the trademark site myself, nobody has it, I
(09:34):
should be fine. And that is a huge mistake that
people make that we can dive into later. But we
have a proprietary process. We look. We use really tough,
amazing software that I pay a lot of money for
every single year, almost ten thousand dollars to be able
to make sure that we are leaving no stone unturned.
And then from there, once we have you know we've
(09:56):
mapped out your path forward, you're going to have a
VIP to schedule with VIP session. This could be a
thirty to forty five minute session where I'm sharing with
you here's the search results. And that's in the A
phase where we're getting ready to actually apply and submit
your application, and so I'm sharing with you here's the
search results. Here's what we found, the good, the bad,
(10:17):
the ugly. I'm doing the analysis and that's where I'm
partnering with my client and saying, here are the options
or the classes, which is like a category in which
you can file your trademark. So your trademark could cover
podcast services and educational services and retreats, or maybe you've
watched a mobile app. There's different categories that those trademarks
(10:38):
have to be filed in based upon how you're using
it and what you're selling. Once you give us your
blessing and you let review the application, we file it
and then you move to the R phase, which is
where it's being reviewed.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Get my free training from Hustler to Self Life CEO,
which includes my untold entrepreneurial journey the self Life CEO
roadmap recipe for elevating your brand, increasing your income, and
reclaiming your time. Head over to the Softwave CEO dot
com backslash free training.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And so during the review process, the trademark examer is
reviewing it, and we're also going to resolve any issues
that pop up with your application. If they need additional
evidence or information, or if we have to submit legal arguments,
we do that in the R phase of the smart process.
And then finally the phase that we all love is tea,
which your trademark is actually registered and you get the
(11:31):
beautiful circle R that you can put on everything, okay,
on social media, on all of that type of stuff.
So that is our five phase smart trademark process.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And when I say y'all, like from someone who isn't
excited about law by any means, I you know, I
was like nervous that it was going to be like
these really big words that didn't understand or like these
difficult processes to try to you know, like just just
be to articulate to Dre like if he wasn't on
(12:02):
a meeting. I was like, ah, it's gonna be tough.
And our first meeting actually started where Drey was still
in a meeting. And remember I was like, I could
tell him everything he said, like I could run through
it because I felt so confident and comfortable in what
Tokora and her team had shared with me, and they
made it so simple and so easy to understand, And
that was what was really helpful for me was having
it be digestible, which you know, again lawyer talk, it's
(12:25):
not always digestible, so I really appreciated that. And then
your team was also and I only worked with you
in one other person, but she was so just personal friendly, nice.
You guys were great about having things sent in on time,
letting me know if I was doing what I was
supposed to be doing, holding me accountable, just made the
process really easy. So one of the things that I
mentioned earlier in your story, when you were talking about
(12:46):
how you got into the like law field, you had
mentioned a patent versus like a trademark. Can you explain
to our listeners the difference between the two.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Of course? Yeah, So I often do it this way, like,
think about like intellectual property as this huge umbrella. Underneath
that umbrella is like a lot of different little rain
drops that could be hitting the umbrella, but they involved
different things. Right, So think of like the umbrella of
criminal law. Right. One way job that can hit that
(13:19):
umbrella of criminal law is burglary. Right, we know that's
a crime, but guess what so is a speeding ticket.
It's just a different type of crime. You think about
intellectual property, we have different types of intellectual property. You've
probably heard about meal, which is name image likeness. That's
called personality rights. That's a type of intellectual property. Another
(13:39):
type is trade secret and that's where like your super
secret G fourteen classified formulas and recipes and product formulations.
That's protected by way of a confidentiality agreement. Copyrights are
gonna protect content, so photography, videography, this podcast, audio, the video,
all of that stuff is protected by way of copy
(14:00):
writ and even books. Patents protect inventions. Something that has
a function, like the microphones that we're talking on right now,
are even the computers, all that has lots of patents
inside of it. And then trademarks. Trademarks protect titles, so names, taglines, logos,
anything is like your business is bat signal. When you
(14:22):
see the bat signal in this guy, if Spider Man
shows up we're confused because it's called for him. Okay,
we called for Batman, right, and so you're pat with
this trademark is like a bat signal that should really
attract your ideal clients and customers to your products and services.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Thank you so much for clarifying that, because I feel
like that's something that comes across my desk frequently, as
someone will ask me like, oh, I'm about to launch
a clothing line, do I need a trademark? And I'm like,
I'm no attorney. I know there's patents, I know there.
You know, there's so many different ways you go about.
So now I can just say, go to the car
(14:59):
he creators at firm. She got you covered. Because I
will say one thing that I learned and was a
little surprised by when we worked together was like all
the different classes that fall under trademarking, and like all
the different ways that you can trademark your business and
all the different kind of like routes you can take,
Like you can, you know, file for a bunch of
classes at once. You could start with one and then
(15:21):
slowly built up. And I that was like new news
to me, and then I was understanding, like, ah, this
is why Dre was saying it was so important. So
can you talk a little bit about the different trademarking
classes and kind of like what their main uses are
for and the primary classes that majority of your clients
kind of fall under into what do you call it
(15:43):
into filing for?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Absolutely, yeah, So there's actually forty five different classes available
for you to use or put your trademark in. Again,
the trademark itself is the name or the logo or
the tagline, right, but you're using it in a specific
way for your business. So let's think about Pandora Jewelry, right,
(16:06):
So Pandora Jewelry, that's going to be in Class fourteen
because that's where all the bracelets and jewelry and charms
and all of that type of stuff is. But then
you also have Pandora Music that's a completely separate company,
identical name, but they are using it in connection with
either downloadable services for you know, audio streaming or some
(16:27):
sort of software or platform as a service, So that
might be Class forty two in class nine. And so
we even see these what I like to call them
brand twins also in other spaces like Delta Airlines and
Delta faucets, and so you have businesses that it can
have identical names Dove chocolate, Dove soap, but they're being
(16:47):
used in different ways. And so these categories help us
see what is the trade channel, meaning the marketing channel,
and how these companies are actually targeting their customers and clients.
And so if you have completely separate marketing channels, completely
separate products and services, there's no trademark infringement. So these
(17:08):
classes or categories help distinguish how products and services are
being used. And so the more classes that you file
your trademark in, the more expensive your trademark filing will
be because you have to pay for every single class.
The first the class is one through thirty four, all
deal with products, some sort of tangible good that you
(17:31):
can maybe download on your phone or actually experience or touch,
whereas classes thirty five through forty five are service classes.
So you might hear someone say, I have a service
mark that's still a trademark, but it's primarily for services.
So all of my trademarks mostly are in class forty
five because that's where legal trademarks are filed. And so
(17:53):
again it's important to know not just the name that
you want to use but also how you're going to
use it, and that shapes the trademark search because I
can say, listen, someone has the exact same name as you,
but they are selling tires. That may not be something
that is going to create confusion in the marketplace. If
(18:14):
you're saying I'm a business coach and I'm helping people
build six, seven, eight figure businesses, people are very sophisticated.
They're sophisticated consumers. So if I need something to help
my car function better, if I need someone to put
tires on, I am not looking for someone to help
me build a business. And so those are kind of
(18:35):
essential metrics and barometers that we use. We're more doing
the trademark searches because we're also saying, which class would
this trademark fall in?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, yeah, y'all. As you can see, she knows her stuff.
So let's talk about who your trademarking services are for.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Absolutely, I'll tell you who is for and who was
not for, so everybody. So my services are for if
you have a transformative product or program that you want
to heavily market, but you feel hesitant because you're not protected.
I'm very sensitive to people who have these amazing ideas,
and they know that their destiny is a tie and
(19:15):
attached to them launching this product, this program, this service,
but they cannot do it because they lack confidence, because
they are terrified and they are scared. And so I
do the job of being a Kingdom attorney by making
sure that, hey, you are protected so you can go
forth and do the thing that you were called and
created to do. My services are also for people who
(19:35):
are artists, entrepreneurs, coaches, especially those who are in the
personal finance space, online coaching space, accountants and therapists. If
you're new to the product market, or if you're strategically
trying to go after like government contracts, you want to
expand your intellectual property portfolio, those folks are drawn to
me not I'll also say, if you're doing anything in
(19:56):
the e comm space, you maybe have a local service,
or if you're even an international business and you're saying
I want to expand into the US market, you actually
have to by law, you have to actually have an
attorney filure trade our application if you are a foreign business. Now,
my services are not for people who believe that brand
(20:17):
protection is not a business priority, it's not an urgency
or priority to them. We work with people who really
understand the intellectual property is their key to longstanding stability
in their brand's longevity. If you're expecting to receive like
top chef legal service for the price of working with
the legal tech company, I'm not your girl. That's not
my ministry. Also, if people you pay me and you
(20:41):
fall off the faith of the earth and you got
certificates trying to see if you're still live, please don't.
You've taken me through too many changes that has happened before.
I'm like, are they okay?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
How are you paying me all this money? Then you
just leave.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Also, I would say it's not for people who don't
understand that they don't want to collaborate with a team.
I have a lot of people who are supporting me,
and that allows me to show up in the fullness
of who I am with just being a great attorney.
So I have people who are trained in the creator's
soft firm way then know how to answer great questions
and of course if it's a legal question, it hits
(21:16):
my desk. But my team is so good and they
are so skilled, and they're so talented and just smart
and capable. So if you're like, I only want to
talk to Takora because I don't necessarily trust the people
that work on her team. That means that you don't
trust me, And so I want people who understand that
while you're growing a business and a part of a
healthy business, making sure you have health. I think the
(21:37):
hiring is a form of self care. So I want
to have people who actually are going to support me.
I know that's a quotable put that in a tweeting. Yeah,
that's the form who's not for?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I love that. So let's kind of get into the
trademark myths, Like what are some of the craziest like
myths about trademarking that you would like to debunk.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Okay, I've heard people say I had the idea and
I wrote it on a piece of paper and I
mailed it to myself, so that shows that I was
using it first. Please come, you know, like, no, we
don't have to do that anymore. And actually that never existed.
It's just actually a myth. So people will say it's
a poor man's patent or a poor man's copyright, but no,
(22:22):
it just makes you a poor man. So just don't
do that at all. Okay, so that's one of the
biggest myths. I think. The other myth, too, is that
people think when I get a trademark, you have it
forever forever elp to quote Andre three thousand. Okay, that's
just not true either. You have to continue to use
your trademark in the marketplace. You actually have to make
(22:45):
sure that you're doing it, and if you stop using
it for a period of three years, it can be
collaterally attacked because someone can say, you know what, you
have abandoned this trademark. I want people to think about
intellectual property like any other piece of property that you have.
One of us has trash cans in our home. I
hope and pray that you do, and hopefully you use them.
(23:05):
When you are done with the trash, what do you
do every Friday every Thursday? You push it out to
the end of the street, or maybe you have ballet
trash and you put it outside the door. Either way,
someone is coming to pick it up and take it away.
When you put the trash outside of your home, you're
basically communicating to the world that I am abandoning this.
Yes it was my property when it was in my home,
(23:28):
but now I'm abanding it and someone else can pick
it up and use it. That's why people said, ooh,
that's a chair or mattress or other things that people
put out and they can come and pick it up.
Someone can do the exact same thing with your intellectual property.
If you stop using people don't think about intellectual property
the same way it's physical property. If you're using it,
(23:49):
if you're no longer selling products and services, or even
if you say out loud, I don't want this anymore,
I'm shutting down this business, then it could communicate to
a third party that, oh, wow, you know what, I'm
going to pursue the trademark for this. I'm going to
pick this brand up, I'm going to do something with
it because of that. And I've even had people think
(24:10):
that just because they launch it. This is another big myth.
Just because you say I'm going to do something, just
because you put up a social media page and you
announced it's coming soon, or you even have a full
on website, but you don't make one sell. You actually
still don't have a trademark. Just because you put up
something and you advertise the sell of a product specifically,
(24:33):
it doesn't mean that trademark rights attached. So one of
the first clients that I had came to me and
they said, hey, we started to sell. It was some
scarves and they said, hey, we started to sell them.
Things are going well. This lady just came out of
nowhere and she's saying that we stole her business. She's
writing on all of our pages, you know. She said,
what can we do about this? I looked and the
(24:56):
lady had she had a website, but she took it
down and it had been down for years. But once
she saw that my clients had put it up, they
made sell. She started to say, you guys took my name,
and she put her website back up. Was sending them
cease and desist, and I had to let her know.
I said, okay, you're saying that this is your business name.
(25:18):
Give me a receipt or some sort of proof that
you have actually made a sale. And she said, oh, well,
I purchased the website. I said, no, I need to
see that someone else purchased the item from you, and
she cannot provide that. And I told her, you are
actually infringing on my client's trademark. So she was accusing
them of infringement, but she actually abandoned her rights. But
(25:41):
once she saw that somebody else wanted it, it became
this thing that she wanted again. And I think a
lot of people think that they're so small and they're
so insignificant that other people do not want what they have.
Big companies actually look for creativity from small business owners
and creatives. And if you're not careful and you don't
do what you need to do by protecting yourself, you
(26:03):
could miss out on a lot of money because of that.
And I'll kind of wrap it up with I remember
Netflix when Stranger Things came out. There was a gentleman.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
He had.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
A picture of a VHS tape on his blow. Someone
on Netflix's team grabbed that picture, used it and actually
created the design for Stranger Things, and he's like, hey,
this is my image, right, this is my picture. So
he got upset. A lot of people made a lot
of stink about it, and Netflix came to him paid
(26:41):
him some money. He said, hey, guys, just no, I'm
no longer upset. Everything's fine. Netflix took care of me.
And it was because he won. He I believe that
he had a copyright to that photo that was registered
and they actually took it without his premier and so
it's powerful if you actually have legal rights or even
(27:05):
I remember that it was a trademark attorney and he
bought the Harris Walts domain like fifteen years ago. They
ended up paying fifteen thousand dollars for He wasn't doing
anything wrong. It wasn't like he purchased the domain once
she announced her running mate. He just had the foresight
to say, I'm just gonna purchase this domain because you
(27:25):
never know what will come of it. And it paid
off very well for him, and that was his intellectual property.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Are you ready to go from hustler to soft life CEO?
I'm here to help. I've created the soft Life Society,
a membership based community where I provide weekly events such
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(27:52):
Visit the soff life ceo dot com backslash Society and
use code free trial for thirty days free access. Yeah,
that is so interesting. It's like law man. It's just
so much to it. So how do like, for the
people listening, how do they know if there's someone who
(28:13):
should be seeking a trademark for their business now or
in the future.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
I think it's it's it's as essential as forming an LLC.
A lot of people are like, Okay, I know I
need to form my LLC, and we know everybody on
LLC Twitter, at LLC Instagram. It's telling people, Hey, form
an LLC, buy a business, pay buy your home. I'm like, waiting,
that's the wrong stuff. Don't y'all listen to the wrong people. Okay,
So foundational elements of forming a business involved not just
(28:44):
forming that business and getting your EI in and opening
up a bank account, but it also involves really within
the first year or so of pursuing that trademark. If
you know that you are going to use a name
and if you want it to be promoted in the
market place, you want to protect it because if someone
else uses your business name to confuse your prospective clients
(29:08):
and customers, or even worse, people think that your products
and services are associated within an inferior brand because you
didn't police it. Now your business is in danger. You
have to do unnecessary damage control on top of all
the other things that you have to do as an entrepreneur.
So in my professional opinion, it should be pursued as
soon as possible because a lot of people just put
(29:32):
it off, and I can share some dangers of what
happens when you put it off. Client who came to me,
they were amazing, amazing company and they do custom closets,
custom cabinetry, and they have been in South Carolina rocking
and rolling very strongly for about five years, and they
(29:52):
decided to expand into North Carolina. Their business name was
quite generic. It was something like Carolina Cabinetry Creations, right,
that wasn't their exact name, but you get what I'm saying.
And so of course it is marketed to people in
the Carolinas. And so when they expanded it to North Carolina,
(30:13):
they immediately received a ceased and desist because there was
a North Carolina business they had the exact same name
that had already registered a federal trademark. So when you
receive a ceason desist, you actually have to cease and desist,
like you have to stop. So they had to pause
and shut down their business for thirty days. They could
(30:35):
not accept a new client. They actually had to rewrap
all of their trucks. They had to order new signage,
new employee uniforms, new business cards, They had to stop
accepting money. They actually had to pause the projects that
were already open. They immediately lost around thirty thousand dollars immediately.
(30:58):
The worst part they had to give up the domain,
the URL their business. So think about all the traffic
that they drove to that particular URL for a year
after year after year. And of course now I think about,
like you said, I met, you met me, and we
didn't work together I think for another six to nine
months after that. But if you if I had a
(31:21):
trademark infringement issue and I had to relinquish my URL, well,
if you went and you looked up creators, all firm.
What if it was owned by somebody else and maybe
Takorra works for them, I don't know. I just know
that it all firm, right. And so now it wasn't
just that they lost thirty K. There was a lot
more money than that in the long run, and they
have bounce back. They had to pivot, but that is
(31:44):
the danger. They were in business for five years and
finally they began to go to the process of expanding
their geographic region and location. It put illegal targets early
on their back. If they did their due diligence up front,
they would have discovered, oh, there's another bus business that
already has this name. Let's choose something else. And they
(32:04):
were working with an attorney they were about to choose
a different name, and that attorney was not a trademark
attorney that it said, that seems fine. They were kind
of looking at the Secretary of State's website when they
came to me, knowing I really specialized in trademark law,
I said, you can't use that name either, because that
also is federally trademarked. They said, oh my goodness, Attorney Davis.
(32:24):
I said, no, no, no, we're not going to do that.
You're going to end up in the same situation that
you're trying to get out of. And so I was
able to take them to the trademark process. They rebranded successfully.
Now they're back up and running and doing quite well.
But that was a huge hit to their momentum, and
I think people do underestimate the danger of when you're
moving and you're a momentum. They were expanding and to
(32:46):
get hit with something like that, it's devastating not just
financially but also psychologically as an entrepreneur, and our creative
space has to be protected, and I think that's what
people don't realize that they're leaving on covered Like, it's
your brain, your ability to create, your ability to create
with freedom that you're putting on the line, and it's
(33:07):
honestly not worth.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
So for our entrepreneurs who are on a tight budget,
what are some ways that they can start protecting their
brand without cutting corners?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Absolutely, so I recommend that each of us, no matter
where we are in business, if you're generating between zero
a million in your budget, you should allocate two to
five percent of that budget for legal services. So that
means if you make one hundred thousand and two percent
is two thousand, right, So I would say, okay, if
(33:37):
you're on that type budget and you're saying, okay, I
have fifteen hundred to two thousand for illegal then maybe
some of that goes towards getting contract templates. So maybe
some of it goes towards you know what, I'm going
to invest in having a consultation with an attorney one
time of year. I just want to be able to
start building your relationship. That might be two hundred and
fifty to three hundred and fifty dollars, but having a
(33:58):
relationship with someone who can give insight into the business,
provide you with support strategy, it's always great. Also, y'all,
don't be afraid to you legal clinics. There are law
school clinics all across the country where law students are
chomping at the bit to do trademark applications, patent applications,
draft your contracts, form your businesses. Because think about it,
(34:20):
attorneys have to have practice, they have to have experience,
so it's like an apprenticeship model. So if you google
USPTO Law school clinics, the USPTO has a list of
law school clinics and they will actually tell you whether
they accept clients only in certain states, and some of
them accept clients from anywhere in the country. So, if
(34:42):
you are on a tight budget and you legitimately cannot
make the investment in legal but you know you want
to do things right, reach out to the law school clinics.
The other option you have is that we all have
a state bar, and the state bar is what license
attorneys are members of and most of us are encouraged
(35:03):
to perform at least fifty hours of pro bono legal
services every single year. I only provide pro bono services
through those programs because I've done pro bono work before
in the past, and it's crazy that I'll do all
this work and then the people I'm trying to help
that ghost me. I'm like, what's going on, okay, trying
to be out here and helping be in the hands
(35:24):
and feed of Jesus, and people just leave it okay.
And so I only do it through those particular programs.
But I would recommend that instead of you thinking that
you can use chat GBT to write your contracts, please
stop that you go to a license attorney or a
law school clinic and the law students are actually supervised
(35:45):
by a license attorney. And so those are amazing options
for anybody just getting started, and it allows you to
still get really great advice. And of course, finally, there's
a lot of accelerated programs and lawyers will actually volunteer
through those accelerated programs. So those would be the things
that I would recommend if you're on a tight budget.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah, nice, thank you. So much for sharing. So we
are going to jump into our Q and a portion
of the interview. The first question that was submitted is
what's the most rewarding part of helping entrepreneurs protect their brands?
Speaker 1 (36:20):
For me, it's actually seeing it happen. A lot of
people come to me, as you can imagine, and they
are scared, they're vulnerable. A lot of people have actually
been taken advantage of maybe they were done wrong. It's
very emotional. I've had to pray with a lot of people.
I'm so thankful that I get to do that and
get to encourage a lot of people and operate in
(36:42):
my spiritual gifts. But it's so edifying to see people
on the other side of that. Most amazing thing to
have somebody come to me and say, I've got this
big idea of this big tream. I know it's going
to be amazing, but I need your help and I
get to step in and I get to provide support
and insight, and then to see the theme be birth.
(37:02):
That's the most amazing thing. Every single time. I have
one client, Audrey Richmond, who I love. She has the
whole Unclone brand and we are working for years for
her to launch this certification program. And when she launched it,
I told her, I said, I'm so proud of you
because you have been working diligently and we've been working
together for the past seven years. And to see her
(37:24):
launch a certification program and to see her just really
own her intellectual property, that's that's good.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
So yes, I gotta look her up. Ay, what's what's her?
What's her name again?
Speaker 1 (37:36):
A U D R A excuse me, au d R
I A Richmond R I C H M O N D.
You would love her. She's a okay marketing.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I want to check her out. I'm gonna check her out.
Our next question is how does your approach to trademark
law differ from other industries? What makes your method unique?
Speaker 1 (37:59):
A lot of For me, it's not just like trademarks, right,
this is your legacy. So I love to hear the
stories from my clients. I need to know what I'm
fighting for. I need to know that this is not
just a name.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
To me.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
It's not just like, oh, we just want to name
the podcast. It's most of the time it's like, no,
I am so passionate about helping these women, helping these men,
helping these babies. I want to be able to give
this platform, do this, do that. We are trying to
change the lives of these people. So I'm so invested
in the dreams of my clients and I really think
about that. I also pray. I'm telling you, like, I
(38:38):
have a ninety five percent success rate, and God allowed
me to launch my law from out of my bedroom
closet and I knew nothing about trademarks. I just saw
black women doing trademarks in law school and I said,
I want to be her. I have that moment where
I was like, I want to be her, but I
had zero experience, and so I was just hustling. I
was gritty. I literally depended on Facebook groups. When people
(39:01):
would ask a question in the Facebook group, I'm like,
I don't know the answer to that trade my question,
but I'm gonna figure it out, and I would go
and I would look it up and then I would
go and I would respond like it was at that
hurt but me, like, black women have just really champion
and support supported me. There's so many amazing people that
supported my business throughout the years, and not just black
(39:23):
women but others, but most black women. A shout out
to us but I think the again, the approach is
that I'm a Kingdom attorney. I'm gonna pray over your uh,
your application. I'm asking for divine strategy from heaven, whether
you want me to or not. Of course, I respect everybody,
but I have to just be my full self when
(39:44):
and I do what I get to do. And I
love that I'm able to do that. And then also
I just really care if I make a mistake, I'll
tell you I made a mistake. I'm not gonna be
I've made mistakes and I look at my client and
say I'm so sorry. I'm gonna fix it. And I
think that goes a long way. Where we live in
a world where people make mistakes and they're so prideful
(40:06):
and they really to admit it. Now, I'm not gonna
let anybody walk all over me. I ain't gonna let
nobody play me. But if I need to humble myself
and say this was not the best strategy, like today,
I actually refiled a client's trademark. I said, you know what,
I want to try again. If you allow me the
honor of continuing to serve you, I will pay for
(40:28):
the refiling. Let's try a different approach and a different strategy.
I did that with another client in the first go
round with her trademark. It didn't work out, but I
refiled it the second time with a new strategy and
we got it. And so some people just are not
willing to put up their own money and try to
make it work. They treat people like a number, and
nobody's ever a number.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
To me, So I think that's yeah, that makes a
world's a difference. And to be you know, again, going
back on my experience, you can feel how genuine you
are and it's definitely not not just talk y'all. So
what she's sharing is true. Can you recommend any resources
or tools for entrepreneurs to learn more about protecting their
(41:11):
brand or their intellectual property?
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Absolutely? You can go to Creators Law Firm dot com,
which is my business and we have a really great
blog and so I love to post really great resources
there and my platform on Instagram. To Cora Davis, I
love to post what I call edutainment. I'm like, y'all
are gonna laugh and learn. So I love to blend
(41:34):
humor because I act like I'm a comedian sometimes with
law to help people really understand certain things. So I
think that helps and it helps you to demystify the law.
I think other amazing resources too, are not just like
it's gonna be crazy what I'm about to say, Chat
(41:54):
GPT with boundaries. Okay, okay, listen the whole way. Those
are every rights of course that I can use chat GBT.
Wait a minute, Okay, so machine learning is amazing. I
actually have a certification and generative AI for the legal profession.
And what I understand about chat GBT and other AI
models is that they are amazing at breaking down general
(42:18):
legal concepts, broad scope legal concepts. So if you say,
you know, what is a trademark or what is a copyright,
then they're really good at explaining that. They are absolutely
terrible at giving you legal advice. If you said I
got sued and I need to respond to this, what
should I do, It's not going to be able to
tell you that, or if it does, it could do
(42:39):
something called hallucinate. Hallucinate means it's gonna make stuff up.
That's literally what it means. And so use it as
a tool for like really broad scope type stuff and
really trying to understand different things, but also leverage that
when you say you know what, I need to go
and try to build a relationship with somebody who's an
(43:00):
attorney who's going to be able to provide me what
for So I would say, definitely, those are some amazing resources,
myself included. Don't forget about the USPCO clinics and searching
for your state bar because that is such an underutilized
resource that people don't even realize. There's so much help
out there for you if you're starting a business.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
That's awesome. So the next question is what advice would
you give to someone who is just beginning their journey
in the entrepreneurship and is feeling overwhelmed by all of
the legal requirements.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Go to a law school clinic, get a pro bono attorney.
Do not span everything that you just earned on hiring
legal counsel. And here's the reason why you don't know
what you're doing most of us don't. Well, you really
don't know what you're doing in the beginning because you're
still trying to figure out who you are, who you serve,
(43:52):
how you want to serve them, Do you really want
to do this? So I would say, just be mindful
of how much you invest. That's why I said hey two,
Because you know, if you make an investment of two
percent and you don't really get a return on it,
it's not like it's going to cripple your business. If
you turn around and say, Okay, I spent fifty percent
of my revenue on an attorney, that's an unwise investment. So,
in my opinion, try to get as much free resources
(44:14):
as possible while there's a lot of help available to you,
because the longer you are in business, you will begin
age out of some of the grant programs, some of
these entrepreneurial programs because they're only for people who hate
you've been in business for five years or less, you
know you have X amount of revenue or less, you're
going to really mature out of that. So again, look
(44:36):
for the free resources. Get involved in these accelerators, Look
at the stuff that your city is actually doing. One
of the most amazing experiences that I had was I
actually was in a six to eight month program and
basically I kind of got what they called a street
wise NBA. I mean, it was robust, but it was
better than any mastermind that I ever paid for. And
(44:58):
I didn't have to pay for it because it was
offered by the City of Charlotte, and it really took
me through financial stuff and how to read financial statements.
I finally understood liquidity, profitability, how to read a profit
and laws statements. How did that different from a balance sheet?
You know? How can I look at certain numbers and
understand the health of my business. But some of the
(45:20):
masterminds I was in they were great. They allowed me
to connect with other people and expand my network, but
it didn't teach me the nuances of what it was
like to run a healthy business. It was more so
focused on sales. So if I re you, I would
be looking at those particular programs. Also, do not sleep
on getting certified. So in North Carolina we have something
(45:42):
called hub certification. It's historically underutilized businesses. It may be
something different in your state. But just because I had
that certification, I got a twenty five thousand dollars business
grant from the state of North Carolina for just applying
and then they gave me the money around the pandemic
just because I had the certification. And so I asked
(46:03):
other lawyers like a year or two prior, Hey are
you guys certified? And they told me it's not really
worth it. It doesn't really work well for attorneys. I'm
so happy I didn't listen to them because I would
have been twenty five thousand. I would have not had
that twenty five k.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Okay, that's awesome. And our last question, which I think
is a really important question, is how long does it
typically take to get your trademark approved?
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Lord? Okay, So it depends. Okay, So generally, like the
fastest right now, fastest I would say is around twelve months.
And that's assuming that you know you have fouled your
trademark application. You also have proof showing how you're using
the trademark application, right and you submit it and you
(46:48):
don't really have any hiccups. Now, if you say to Korra,
I submitted the application, but I still need to submit
evidence I haven't made sales, it's gonna take you longer.
Because the only way for a trademark application to mature
to a registration it is for you to actually use
the product, meaning to use your trademark in connection with
the sales or product, or use your trademark in connection
(47:10):
with providing the service. So the longest trademark that has
taken for me to get for a client has been
around four to five years, but that was because the
client kept filing extensions, So I'd say like four years
for that client. So generally, on average twelve to fifteen months,
but depending upon how fast or how slow you move,
it could be.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Yeah, and that was definitely something that was new to me.
When we went over everything, I was like, oh, I'm like, okay,
so you'll do the business, use it, but it won't
get approved for at least twelve months. Got it okay?
And I think most people think it's like you submit
and then it comes back a week later and it's like,
all right, you're good to go. And that was like
one of the biggest myths or misconceptions that I had
(47:50):
around it. So that was definitely helpful for you to
give insights.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Yeah, and some people think, oh, I have I can't
do anything until it comes back. It's like no, no, no,
you should be doing you're good marketing. Continue to do
that while you're waiting for our proof.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
It's kind of like building your resume or your portfolio,
so that by the time yeah, okay, and that makes
that makes so much sense. So can you share with
all of our listeners the best way for them to
get in touch with you, stay in touch with you,
so that if they need you for legal advice and
want to work with you, or just want to stay
connected with you and your brand, how they can best
do that.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
Absolutely, yeah. So one of the best ways that you
can do if you go to my Instagram and on
any like real or if you send me a DM
and you type free, I'll give you a link to
schedule a free consultation with me. You can also go
to our website which is Creatorsoft Firm dot com and
you can submit an inquiry and then you'll also receive
some information from us. So those are the best ways
to stay in touch with me. And if you love
(48:45):
a good old phone and you want to speak with
my virtual receptionist, you can do that, sweetie, and you
can call nine eight zero two seven seven zero four
three zero.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Thank you so much, Saguer, you have been an amazing guest.
I thank you so much for your time and appreciate
you being here.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
Thank you for having me again, it's so blessing, and
also thank you for giving me the privilege of serving you.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
Thanks for tuning in to soft Life, CEO. I hope
that today's episode gets you a little bit closer to
achieving your definition of a soft life. If you're ready
to start the journey from hustler to soft life CEO,
go to the Soft Life ceo dot com backslash Society
for a thirty day free trial in my coaching community.
If you found this episode helpful, share it with a friend,
leave a review, and don't forget to subscribe.
There's different categories that those trademarks have to be fout
in based upon how you're using it and what you're selling.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hey, I'm Brianna Aponte, your host of the Self Life
CEO podcast. I dropped out of college at the age
of nineteen to start my first business. I worked seven
days a week, wore way too many hats, and was
the true definition of a hustler. Years later, I'm finally
living the dream that I worked so hard to make
my reality. I've transitioned from a hustler to a self
life CEO, working only two days a week to maintain
(00:29):
and run a high earning business that gives me the
freedom to live a life I love. Now it's my
mission to help as many entrepreneurs as I can elevate
their brand, increase their income, and reclaim their time. Join
me and guest experts as we share our transparent journeys,
work smart and not hard strategies, and the behind the
scenes of running a successful brand in business. You're tuned
in to the Self Life CEO today, I have the
(00:51):
pleasure of having to Cora Davis here, who is a
renowned trademark attorney dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and business owners
protect their intellectual property and build illegally sound brands. With
an extensive experience in trademark law and a passion for
empowering business owners, she has become the trusted advocate for
entrepreneurs in our community, me included. Her approach is both
(01:13):
practical and informative, making complex legal processes accessible to all.
I have brought her on as a guest today because
I have had the pleasure of working with her recently
and can't wait to dive into what that has been like.
So everybody say, what's up to my girls?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Cool? What an amazing introduction, the best I've had yet.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
But you deserve it. You know. It's one thing to
talk about someone when you watch them from afar. It's
another to talk about someone when you actually get to
experience them working in their genius, which is what I
got to do with you. So I want to start
this episode off by having you share with us what
your entrepreneurial journey has been like and what the heck
got you into being a attorney in the first place.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Oh my goodness. So I've always said that I wanted
to be an attorney ever since I saw Johnny Cochrane
represent Oh Simpson in the fourth grade, and I'd never
seen such a powerful black man and my dad and
Johnny Copper actually favored like my dad had the same
type of glasses, had the same skin tone, and a
very same powerful presence.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
So I was saying, Daddy, who is he? What is
he doing? He said he's a lawyer. And I said
what do lawyers do? And he said they help people?
And I said do they make a lot of money?
He said, oh, yeah, they do.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
But you know, throughout years, I kind of deviated from
saying I wanted to be an attorney, and then I said, okay,
I'll pursue being a doctor. Actually have a biology degree,
and so when I was conducting research on genetically modified
tomatoes and undergrad I've actually heard about intellectual property byway
of doctor Wendy Boss, who was my plant physiology professor,
(02:48):
and she spoke about we need scientists in Washington who
understand laws, and she started talking about patents and trademarks.
I'm like, what I thought, to go to law school
and to be a lawyer if you had to maybe
make in political science or history. So it kind of
sparked again that child like childhood dream of being an attorney,
(03:09):
but with a twist, and so I ended up pursuing
law school and then after law school, I got a job,
and long story short, there was a terrible and toxic
work environment that I worked in initially when I had
my baby aspired when my son was ten days old,
he told me, you know what, I think, you need
(03:29):
to focus on getting over your pregnancy brain. So with
my pregnancy brain, I launched an amazing multi six and
seven fig year law firm that employs other women and
creates a safe place for other women to work. And
I get to work with some of the most amazing
and creative women business owners and founders of color in
(03:52):
the entire world, hands down. So I'm thankful for you know,
the doubts. I always say, he gave me the gift
of doubts. And with people, do you, it can spark
something amazing and creative venue if you allowed to feel
you in the right direction. So that's a little bit
of my entrepreneurial journey, probably the shortest that I've ever
told that story before.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
That is so interesting. Like I the thought of seeing
somebody on TV, well, I mean, I guess I kind
of had a similar reaction to like what I thought
I wanted to be. I always wanted to be a
teacher because I just thought my first grade teacher was
like the best person in the Hawaii world. So I
was like, I'm going to be her when I grow up.
As you see, I did not end up being her,
(04:34):
but you know, I started that journey. But I think
that's really cool that you were able to kind of
give us all the different dynamics of like what got
you here in such a snippet. I mean, so, yeah,
that's amazing. I do have a few questions about your story.
So one, oh my gosh, schooling. Every time I think
of lawyers, I'm like, poor baby, they went to school forever.
(04:55):
How many years of schooling did it take? Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Well, you know you have to get your traditional undergraduate degree,
so however long that takes you to get it. And
then there's three years of law school go full time,
and for those who go part time, it's generally four years.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
So so like, yeah, I was, letna say, it sounds
like seven to nine if you really you know, stretch
it out. Wow wow wow wow. Well, thankfully you put
in all that work and you know we're here now, because,
like I said, I had an amazing experience working through you,
so I want to jump into that as kind of
our the talking points that will lead into some of
(05:29):
the other questions that I have. But to give you
all some background, you all should know by now that
my husband is a stickler for following the rules and
doing things the right way. If it was up to me,
I would try to get away with whatever I could
before doing the right thing. It's a really bad, bad
trade of mine that luckily my husband bounces out. And
(05:50):
so when we made the switch from all about your
brand to the Soft Life CEO, of course Dre was like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
You know, we got to talk about this is like,
this is a very vague term, Like are you sure
no one's using it? What is the risks that you're
taking by changing the name to this? There were all
of these questions that he had, and you know, me,
(06:12):
I'm like, I mean, I don't know, but it'll be okay.
And then I'm like, wait a minute, wait a minute.
I thought back to this event that I did and
I was like, I met this amazing lawyer who I
know can help me, and I remember looking her up
going to her page, and I was like, Creator's Law Firm.
Sounds like she literally works for people like me. So
(06:33):
I did some digging and I went through your page
and I remembered why I enjoyed meeting you in the
first place, and I was like, let me just reach
out and see if this is something she can help with.
And so to Car, I want you to run everyone
through the process of what it looked like from start
to where we are now with my trademark, and essentially
(06:55):
maybe like break down the phases of like what happens
first before someone actually becomes client, and then once they're
a client of yours, what the process looks like to
the finish line.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
We allow folks to schedule a free call with us
and they can get general information about our packages, our pricing,
and our process, and that really kind of breaks down
those barriers because, honestly, let's be real, y'all, talking to
attorneys is scary. Most of the time. You have to
talk to an attorney when you're in trouble, right, So
most people aren't talking to attorneys when the best things
(07:25):
are happening in their life. But I get the privilege
of representing people when they're at the cusp of something
big or their next big thing, and so always speak
with a trusted advisor. So first you schedule a call,
and then you will speak with me or a member
of my team about what's actually happening in your business.
And so during that process of sharing ideas and your
(07:47):
hopes and your dreams and the transformative promise that your
product or your program provides to your particular target audience,
then we recommend whatever service we feel as best to
help cover your idea. And so during that time a
lot of people are coming to me and saying, hey,
I have this product or this program or this podcast
(08:09):
or this new amazing thing insert that thing here, and say, okay,
if we want to protect it before you launched the world,
let's trademarket. From there, you start with the process, which
is you get the contract, sign the contract, give me
a couple of band Franklins, and then you know you're
onboarded by a member of my team. And so I
(08:31):
have a smart trademark process. We talk about we help
people protect their smarts, and I'm happy to go through
those five phases now. So the S phase and smart
is where you actually schedule your intake call with a
member of my team. It's going to be my pair
of Leegal, my pair of Legal Niza is amazing, been
trained very very well in the creator's off firm way
(08:52):
and standard, and she welcomes clients into the firm, gets
their information, evidence of how they're using the trademark data.
First use basically everything that the legal tea needs to
actually move you to the next space, which is M
and an M of smart we map out your best
path forward. That's when I'm looking and I'm seeing, are
(09:12):
there any legal land mines or legal targets on your
businesses back that will prevent you getting into a trademark
or your trademark application from maturing into a registration. And
this is the part where a lot of people skip.
They think, I did a Google search, I'm good, or
I searched the trademark site myself, nobody has it, I
(09:34):
should be fine. And that is a huge mistake that
people make that we can dive into later. But we
have a proprietary process. We look. We use really tough,
amazing software that I pay a lot of money for
every single year, almost ten thousand dollars to be able
to make sure that we are leaving no stone unturned.
And then from there, once we have you know we've
(09:56):
mapped out your path forward, you're going to have a
VIP to schedule with VIP session. This could be a
thirty to forty five minute session where I'm sharing with
you here's the search results. And that's in the A
phase where we're getting ready to actually apply and submit
your application, and so I'm sharing with you here's the
search results. Here's what we found, the good, the bad,
(10:17):
the ugly. I'm doing the analysis and that's where I'm
partnering with my client and saying, here are the options
or the classes, which is like a category in which
you can file your trademark. So your trademark could cover
podcast services and educational services and retreats, or maybe you've
watched a mobile app. There's different categories that those trademarks
(10:38):
have to be filed in based upon how you're using
it and what you're selling. Once you give us your
blessing and you let review the application, we file it
and then you move to the R phase, which is
where it's being reviewed.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Get my free training from Hustler to Self Life CEO,
which includes my untold entrepreneurial journey the self Life CEO
roadmap recipe for elevating your brand, increasing your income, and
reclaiming your time. Head over to the Softwave CEO dot
com backslash free training.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And so during the review process, the trademark examer is
reviewing it, and we're also going to resolve any issues
that pop up with your application. If they need additional
evidence or information, or if we have to submit legal arguments,
we do that in the R phase of the smart process.
And then finally the phase that we all love is tea,
which your trademark is actually registered and you get the
(11:31):
beautiful circle R that you can put on everything, okay,
on social media, on all of that type of stuff.
So that is our five phase smart trademark process.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And when I say y'all, like from someone who isn't
excited about law by any means, I you know, I
was like nervous that it was going to be like
these really big words that didn't understand or like these
difficult processes to try to you know, like just just
be to articulate to Dre like if he wasn't on
(12:02):
a meeting. I was like, ah, it's gonna be tough.
And our first meeting actually started where Drey was still
in a meeting. And remember I was like, I could
tell him everything he said, like I could run through
it because I felt so confident and comfortable in what
Tokora and her team had shared with me, and they
made it so simple and so easy to understand, And
that was what was really helpful for me was having
it be digestible, which you know, again lawyer talk, it's
(12:25):
not always digestible, so I really appreciated that. And then
your team was also and I only worked with you
in one other person, but she was so just personal friendly, nice.
You guys were great about having things sent in on time,
letting me know if I was doing what I was
supposed to be doing, holding me accountable, just made the
process really easy. So one of the things that I
mentioned earlier in your story, when you were talking about
(12:46):
how you got into the like law field, you had
mentioned a patent versus like a trademark. Can you explain
to our listeners the difference between the two.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Of course? Yeah, So I often do it this way, like,
think about like intellectual property as this huge umbrella. Underneath
that umbrella is like a lot of different little rain
drops that could be hitting the umbrella, but they involved
different things. Right, So think of like the umbrella of
criminal law. Right. One way job that can hit that
(13:19):
umbrella of criminal law is burglary. Right, we know that's
a crime, but guess what so is a speeding ticket.
It's just a different type of crime. You think about
intellectual property, we have different types of intellectual property. You've
probably heard about meal, which is name image likeness. That's
called personality rights. That's a type of intellectual property. Another
(13:39):
type is trade secret and that's where like your super
secret G fourteen classified formulas and recipes and product formulations.
That's protected by way of a confidentiality agreement. Copyrights are
gonna protect content, so photography, videography, this podcast, audio, the video,
all of that stuff is protected by way of copy
(14:00):
writ and even books. Patents protect inventions. Something that has
a function, like the microphones that we're talking on right now,
are even the computers, all that has lots of patents
inside of it. And then trademarks. Trademarks protect titles, so names, taglines, logos,
anything is like your business is bat signal. When you
(14:22):
see the bat signal in this guy, if Spider Man
shows up we're confused because it's called for him. Okay,
we called for Batman, right, and so you're pat with
this trademark is like a bat signal that should really
attract your ideal clients and customers to your products and services.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Thank you so much for clarifying that, because I feel
like that's something that comes across my desk frequently, as
someone will ask me like, oh, I'm about to launch
a clothing line, do I need a trademark? And I'm like,
I'm no attorney. I know there's patents, I know there.
You know, there's so many different ways you go about.
So now I can just say, go to the car
(14:59):
he creators at firm. She got you covered. Because I
will say one thing that I learned and was a
little surprised by when we worked together was like all
the different classes that fall under trademarking, and like all
the different ways that you can trademark your business and
all the different kind of like routes you can take,
Like you can, you know, file for a bunch of
classes at once. You could start with one and then
(15:21):
slowly built up. And I that was like new news
to me, and then I was understanding, like, ah, this
is why Dre was saying it was so important. So
can you talk a little bit about the different trademarking
classes and kind of like what their main uses are
for and the primary classes that majority of your clients
kind of fall under into what do you call it
(15:43):
into filing for?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Absolutely, yeah, So there's actually forty five different classes available
for you to use or put your trademark in. Again,
the trademark itself is the name or the logo or
the tagline, right, but you're using it in a specific
way for your business. So let's think about Pandora Jewelry, right,
(16:06):
So Pandora Jewelry, that's going to be in Class fourteen
because that's where all the bracelets and jewelry and charms
and all of that type of stuff is. But then
you also have Pandora Music that's a completely separate company,
identical name, but they are using it in connection with
either downloadable services for you know, audio streaming or some
(16:27):
sort of software or platform as a service, So that
might be Class forty two in class nine. And so
we even see these what I like to call them
brand twins also in other spaces like Delta Airlines and
Delta faucets, and so you have businesses that it can
have identical names Dove chocolate, Dove soap, but they're being
(16:47):
used in different ways. And so these categories help us
see what is the trade channel, meaning the marketing channel,
and how these companies are actually targeting their customers and clients.
And so if you have completely separate marketing channels, completely
separate products and services, there's no trademark infringement. So these
(17:08):
classes or categories help distinguish how products and services are
being used. And so the more classes that you file
your trademark in, the more expensive your trademark filing will
be because you have to pay for every single class.
The first the class is one through thirty four, all
deal with products, some sort of tangible good that you
(17:31):
can maybe download on your phone or actually experience or touch,
whereas classes thirty five through forty five are service classes.
So you might hear someone say, I have a service
mark that's still a trademark, but it's primarily for services.
So all of my trademarks mostly are in class forty
five because that's where legal trademarks are filed. And so
(17:53):
again it's important to know not just the name that
you want to use but also how you're going to
use it, and that shapes the trademark search because I
can say, listen, someone has the exact same name as you,
but they are selling tires. That may not be something
that is going to create confusion in the marketplace. If
(18:14):
you're saying I'm a business coach and I'm helping people
build six, seven, eight figure businesses, people are very sophisticated.
They're sophisticated consumers. So if I need something to help
my car function better, if I need someone to put
tires on, I am not looking for someone to help
me build a business. And so those are kind of
(18:35):
essential metrics and barometers that we use. We're more doing
the trademark searches because we're also saying, which class would
this trademark fall in?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, yeah, y'all. As you can see, she knows her stuff.
So let's talk about who your trademarking services are for.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Absolutely, I'll tell you who is for and who was
not for, so everybody. So my services are for if
you have a transformative product or program that you want
to heavily market, but you feel hesitant because you're not protected.
I'm very sensitive to people who have these amazing ideas,
and they know that their destiny is a tie and
(19:15):
attached to them launching this product, this program, this service,
but they cannot do it because they lack confidence, because
they are terrified and they are scared. And so I
do the job of being a Kingdom attorney by making
sure that, hey, you are protected so you can go
forth and do the thing that you were called and
created to do. My services are also for people who
(19:35):
are artists, entrepreneurs, coaches, especially those who are in the
personal finance space, online coaching space, accountants and therapists. If
you're new to the product market, or if you're strategically
trying to go after like government contracts, you want to
expand your intellectual property portfolio, those folks are drawn to
me not I'll also say, if you're doing anything in
(19:56):
the e comm space, you maybe have a local service,
or if you're even an international business and you're saying
I want to expand into the US market, you actually
have to by law, you have to actually have an
attorney filure trade our application if you are a foreign business. Now,
my services are not for people who believe that brand
(20:17):
protection is not a business priority, it's not an urgency
or priority to them. We work with people who really
understand the intellectual property is their key to longstanding stability
in their brand's longevity. If you're expecting to receive like
top chef legal service for the price of working with
the legal tech company, I'm not your girl. That's not
my ministry. Also, if people you pay me and you
(20:41):
fall off the faith of the earth and you got
certificates trying to see if you're still live, please don't.
You've taken me through too many changes that has happened before.
I'm like, are they okay?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
How are you paying me all this money? Then you
just leave.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Also, I would say it's not for people who don't
understand that they don't want to collaborate with a team.
I have a lot of people who are supporting me,
and that allows me to show up in the fullness
of who I am with just being a great attorney.
So I have people who are trained in the creator's
soft firm way then know how to answer great questions
and of course if it's a legal question, it hits
(21:16):
my desk. But my team is so good and they
are so skilled, and they're so talented and just smart
and capable. So if you're like, I only want to
talk to Takora because I don't necessarily trust the people
that work on her team. That means that you don't
trust me, And so I want people who understand that
while you're growing a business and a part of a
healthy business, making sure you have health. I think the
(21:37):
hiring is a form of self care. So I want
to have people who actually are going to support me.
I know that's a quotable put that in a tweeting. Yeah,
that's the form who's not for?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
I love that. So let's kind of get into the
trademark myths, Like what are some of the craziest like
myths about trademarking that you would like to debunk.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Okay, I've heard people say I had the idea and
I wrote it on a piece of paper and I
mailed it to myself, so that shows that I was
using it first. Please come, you know, like, no, we
don't have to do that anymore. And actually that never existed.
It's just actually a myth. So people will say it's
a poor man's patent or a poor man's copyright, but no,
(22:22):
it just makes you a poor man. So just don't
do that at all. Okay, so that's one of the
biggest myths. I think. The other myth, too, is that
people think when I get a trademark, you have it
forever forever elp to quote Andre three thousand. Okay, that's
just not true either. You have to continue to use
your trademark in the marketplace. You actually have to make
(22:45):
sure that you're doing it, and if you stop using
it for a period of three years, it can be
collaterally attacked because someone can say, you know what, you
have abandoned this trademark. I want people to think about
intellectual property like any other piece of property that you have.
One of us has trash cans in our home. I
hope and pray that you do, and hopefully you use them.
(23:05):
When you are done with the trash, what do you
do every Friday every Thursday? You push it out to
the end of the street, or maybe you have ballet
trash and you put it outside the door. Either way,
someone is coming to pick it up and take it away.
When you put the trash outside of your home, you're
basically communicating to the world that I am abandoning this.
Yes it was my property when it was in my home,
(23:28):
but now I'm abanding it and someone else can pick
it up and use it. That's why people said, ooh,
that's a chair or mattress or other things that people
put out and they can come and pick it up.
Someone can do the exact same thing with your intellectual property.
If you stop using people don't think about intellectual property
the same way it's physical property. If you're using it,
(23:49):
if you're no longer selling products and services, or even
if you say out loud, I don't want this anymore,
I'm shutting down this business, then it could communicate to
a third party that, oh, wow, you know what, I'm
going to pursue the trademark for this. I'm going to
pick this brand up, I'm going to do something with
it because of that. And I've even had people think
(24:10):
that just because they launch it. This is another big myth.
Just because you say I'm going to do something, just
because you put up a social media page and you
announced it's coming soon, or you even have a full
on website, but you don't make one sell. You actually
still don't have a trademark. Just because you put up
something and you advertise the sell of a product specifically,
(24:33):
it doesn't mean that trademark rights attached. So one of
the first clients that I had came to me and
they said, hey, we started to sell. It was some
scarves and they said, hey, we started to sell them.
Things are going well. This lady just came out of
nowhere and she's saying that we stole her business. She's
writing on all of our pages, you know. She said,
what can we do about this? I looked and the
(24:56):
lady had she had a website, but she took it
down and it had been down for years. But once
she saw that my clients had put it up, they
made sell. She started to say, you guys took my name,
and she put her website back up. Was sending them
cease and desist, and I had to let her know.
I said, okay, you're saying that this is your business name.
(25:18):
Give me a receipt or some sort of proof that
you have actually made a sale. And she said, oh, well,
I purchased the website. I said, no, I need to
see that someone else purchased the item from you, and
she cannot provide that. And I told her, you are
actually infringing on my client's trademark. So she was accusing
them of infringement, but she actually abandoned her rights. But
(25:41):
once she saw that somebody else wanted it, it became
this thing that she wanted again. And I think a
lot of people think that they're so small and they're
so insignificant that other people do not want what they have.
Big companies actually look for creativity from small business owners
and creatives. And if you're not careful and you don't
do what you need to do by protecting yourself, you
(26:03):
could miss out on a lot of money because of that.
And I'll kind of wrap it up with I remember
Netflix when Stranger Things came out. There was a gentleman.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
He had.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
A picture of a VHS tape on his blow. Someone
on Netflix's team grabbed that picture, used it and actually
created the design for Stranger Things, and he's like, hey,
this is my image, right, this is my picture. So
he got upset. A lot of people made a lot
of stink about it, and Netflix came to him paid
(26:41):
him some money. He said, hey, guys, just no, I'm
no longer upset. Everything's fine. Netflix took care of me.
And it was because he won. He I believe that
he had a copyright to that photo that was registered
and they actually took it without his premier and so
it's powerful if you actually have legal rights or even
(27:05):
I remember that it was a trademark attorney and he
bought the Harris Walts domain like fifteen years ago. They
ended up paying fifteen thousand dollars for He wasn't doing
anything wrong. It wasn't like he purchased the domain once
she announced her running mate. He just had the foresight
to say, I'm just gonna purchase this domain because you
(27:25):
never know what will come of it. And it paid
off very well for him, and that was his intellectual property.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Are you ready to go from hustler to soft life CEO?
I'm here to help. I've created the soft Life Society,
a membership based community where I provide weekly events such
as group coaching calls, brand and social media audits, masterclasses
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here's the best part. You can join today for free.
(27:52):
Visit the soff life ceo dot com backslash Society and
use code free trial for thirty days free access. Yeah,
that is so interesting. It's like law man. It's just
so much to it. So how do like, for the
people listening, how do they know if there's someone who
(28:13):
should be seeking a trademark for their business now or
in the future.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
I think it's it's it's as essential as forming an LLC.
A lot of people are like, Okay, I know I
need to form my LLC, and we know everybody on
LLC Twitter, at LLC Instagram. It's telling people, Hey, form
an LLC, buy a business, pay buy your home. I'm like, waiting,
that's the wrong stuff. Don't y'all listen to the wrong people. Okay,
So foundational elements of forming a business involved not just
(28:44):
forming that business and getting your EI in and opening
up a bank account, but it also involves really within
the first year or so of pursuing that trademark. If
you know that you are going to use a name
and if you want it to be promoted in the
market place, you want to protect it because if someone
else uses your business name to confuse your prospective clients
(29:08):
and customers, or even worse, people think that your products
and services are associated within an inferior brand because you
didn't police it. Now your business is in danger. You
have to do unnecessary damage control on top of all
the other things that you have to do as an entrepreneur.
So in my professional opinion, it should be pursued as
soon as possible because a lot of people just put
(29:32):
it off, and I can share some dangers of what
happens when you put it off. Client who came to me,
they were amazing, amazing company and they do custom closets,
custom cabinetry, and they have been in South Carolina rocking
and rolling very strongly for about five years, and they
(29:52):
decided to expand into North Carolina. Their business name was
quite generic. It was something like Carolina Cabinetry Creations, right,
that wasn't their exact name, but you get what I'm saying.
And so of course it is marketed to people in
the Carolinas. And so when they expanded it to North Carolina,
(30:13):
they immediately received a ceased and desist because there was
a North Carolina business they had the exact same name
that had already registered a federal trademark. So when you
receive a ceason desist, you actually have to cease and desist,
like you have to stop. So they had to pause
and shut down their business for thirty days. They could
(30:35):
not accept a new client. They actually had to rewrap
all of their trucks. They had to order new signage,
new employee uniforms, new business cards, They had to stop
accepting money. They actually had to pause the projects that
were already open. They immediately lost around thirty thousand dollars immediately.
(30:58):
The worst part they had to give up the domain,
the URL their business. So think about all the traffic
that they drove to that particular URL for a year
after year after year. And of course now I think about,
like you said, I met, you met me, and we
didn't work together I think for another six to nine
months after that. But if you if I had a
(31:21):
trademark infringement issue and I had to relinquish my URL, well,
if you went and you looked up creators, all firm.
What if it was owned by somebody else and maybe
Takorra works for them, I don't know. I just know
that it all firm, right. And so now it wasn't
just that they lost thirty K. There was a lot
more money than that in the long run, and they
have bounce back. They had to pivot, but that is
(31:44):
the danger. They were in business for five years and
finally they began to go to the process of expanding
their geographic region and location. It put illegal targets early
on their back. If they did their due diligence up front,
they would have discovered, oh, there's another bus business that
already has this name. Let's choose something else. And they
(32:04):
were working with an attorney they were about to choose
a different name, and that attorney was not a trademark
attorney that it said, that seems fine. They were kind
of looking at the Secretary of State's website when they
came to me, knowing I really specialized in trademark law,
I said, you can't use that name either, because that
also is federally trademarked. They said, oh my goodness, Attorney Davis.
(32:24):
I said, no, no, no, we're not going to do that.
You're going to end up in the same situation that
you're trying to get out of. And so I was
able to take them to the trademark process. They rebranded successfully.
Now they're back up and running and doing quite well.
But that was a huge hit to their momentum, and
I think people do underestimate the danger of when you're
moving and you're a momentum. They were expanding and to
(32:46):
get hit with something like that, it's devastating not just
financially but also psychologically as an entrepreneur, and our creative
space has to be protected, and I think that's what
people don't realize that they're leaving on covered Like, it's
your brain, your ability to create, your ability to create
with freedom that you're putting on the line, and it's
(33:07):
honestly not worth.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
So for our entrepreneurs who are on a tight budget,
what are some ways that they can start protecting their
brand without cutting corners?
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Absolutely, so I recommend that each of us, no matter
where we are in business, if you're generating between zero
a million in your budget, you should allocate two to
five percent of that budget for legal services. So that
means if you make one hundred thousand and two percent
is two thousand, right, So I would say, okay, if
(33:37):
you're on that type budget and you're saying, okay, I
have fifteen hundred to two thousand for illegal then maybe
some of that goes towards getting contract templates. So maybe
some of it goes towards you know what, I'm going
to invest in having a consultation with an attorney one
time of year. I just want to be able to
start building your relationship. That might be two hundred and
fifty to three hundred and fifty dollars, but having a
(33:58):
relationship with someone who can give insight into the business,
provide you with support strategy, it's always great. Also, y'all,
don't be afraid to you legal clinics. There are law
school clinics all across the country where law students are
chomping at the bit to do trademark applications, patent applications,
draft your contracts, form your businesses. Because think about it,
(34:20):
attorneys have to have practice, they have to have experience,
so it's like an apprenticeship model. So if you google
USPTO Law school clinics, the USPTO has a list of
law school clinics and they will actually tell you whether
they accept clients only in certain states, and some of
them accept clients from anywhere in the country. So, if
(34:42):
you are on a tight budget and you legitimately cannot
make the investment in legal but you know you want
to do things right, reach out to the law school clinics.
The other option you have is that we all have
a state bar, and the state bar is what license
attorneys are members of and most of us are encouraged
(35:03):
to perform at least fifty hours of pro bono legal
services every single year. I only provide pro bono services
through those programs because I've done pro bono work before
in the past, and it's crazy that I'll do all
this work and then the people I'm trying to help
that ghost me. I'm like, what's going on, okay, trying
to be out here and helping be in the hands
(35:24):
and feed of Jesus, and people just leave it okay.
And so I only do it through those particular programs.
But I would recommend that instead of you thinking that
you can use chat GBT to write your contracts, please
stop that you go to a license attorney or a
law school clinic and the law students are actually supervised
(35:45):
by a license attorney. And so those are amazing options
for anybody just getting started, and it allows you to
still get really great advice. And of course, finally, there's
a lot of accelerated programs and lawyers will actually volunteer
through those accelerated programs. So those would be the things
that I would recommend if you're on a tight budget.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah, nice, thank you. So much for sharing. So we
are going to jump into our Q and a portion
of the interview. The first question that was submitted is
what's the most rewarding part of helping entrepreneurs protect their brands?
Speaker 1 (36:20):
For me, it's actually seeing it happen. A lot of
people come to me, as you can imagine, and they
are scared, they're vulnerable. A lot of people have actually
been taken advantage of maybe they were done wrong. It's
very emotional. I've had to pray with a lot of people.
I'm so thankful that I get to do that and
get to encourage a lot of people and operate in
(36:42):
my spiritual gifts. But it's so edifying to see people
on the other side of that. Most amazing thing to
have somebody come to me and say, I've got this
big idea of this big tream. I know it's going
to be amazing, but I need your help and I
get to step in and I get to provide support
and insight, and then to see the theme be birth.
(37:02):
That's the most amazing thing. Every single time. I have
one client, Audrey Richmond, who I love. She has the
whole Unclone brand and we are working for years for
her to launch this certification program. And when she launched it,
I told her, I said, I'm so proud of you
because you have been working diligently and we've been working
together for the past seven years. And to see her
(37:24):
launch a certification program and to see her just really
own her intellectual property, that's that's good.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
So yes, I gotta look her up. Ay, what's what's her?
What's her name again?
Speaker 1 (37:36):
A U D R A excuse me, au d R
I A Richmond R I C H M O N D.
You would love her. She's a okay marketing.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I want to check her out. I'm gonna check her out.
Our next question is how does your approach to trademark
law differ from other industries? What makes your method unique?
Speaker 1 (37:59):
A lot of For me, it's not just like trademarks, right,
this is your legacy. So I love to hear the
stories from my clients. I need to know what I'm
fighting for. I need to know that this is not
just a name.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
To me.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
It's not just like, oh, we just want to name
the podcast. It's most of the time it's like, no,
I am so passionate about helping these women, helping these men,
helping these babies. I want to be able to give
this platform, do this, do that. We are trying to
change the lives of these people. So I'm so invested
in the dreams of my clients and I really think
about that. I also pray. I'm telling you, like, I
(38:38):
have a ninety five percent success rate, and God allowed
me to launch my law from out of my bedroom
closet and I knew nothing about trademarks. I just saw
black women doing trademarks in law school and I said,
I want to be her. I have that moment where
I was like, I want to be her, but I
had zero experience, and so I was just hustling. I
was gritty. I literally depended on Facebook groups. When people
(39:01):
would ask a question in the Facebook group, I'm like,
I don't know the answer to that trade my question,
but I'm gonna figure it out, and I would go
and I would look it up and then I would
go and I would respond like it was at that
hurt but me, like, black women have just really champion
and support supported me. There's so many amazing people that
supported my business throughout the years, and not just black
(39:23):
women but others, but most black women. A shout out
to us but I think the again, the approach is
that I'm a Kingdom attorney. I'm gonna pray over your uh,
your application. I'm asking for divine strategy from heaven, whether
you want me to or not. Of course, I respect everybody,
but I have to just be my full self when
(39:44):
and I do what I get to do. And I
love that I'm able to do that. And then also
I just really care if I make a mistake, I'll
tell you I made a mistake. I'm not gonna be
I've made mistakes and I look at my client and
say I'm so sorry. I'm gonna fix it. And I
think that goes a long way. Where we live in
a world where people make mistakes and they're so prideful
(40:06):
and they really to admit it. Now, I'm not gonna
let anybody walk all over me. I ain't gonna let
nobody play me. But if I need to humble myself
and say this was not the best strategy, like today,
I actually refiled a client's trademark. I said, you know what,
I want to try again. If you allow me the
honor of continuing to serve you, I will pay for
(40:28):
the refiling. Let's try a different approach and a different strategy.
I did that with another client in the first go
round with her trademark. It didn't work out, but I
refiled it the second time with a new strategy and
we got it. And so some people just are not
willing to put up their own money and try to
make it work. They treat people like a number, and
nobody's ever a number.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
To me, So I think that's yeah, that makes a
world's a difference. And to be you know, again, going
back on my experience, you can feel how genuine you
are and it's definitely not not just talk y'all. So
what she's sharing is true. Can you recommend any resources
or tools for entrepreneurs to learn more about protecting their
(41:11):
brand or their intellectual property?
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Absolutely? You can go to Creators Law Firm dot com,
which is my business and we have a really great
blog and so I love to post really great resources
there and my platform on Instagram. To Cora Davis, I
love to post what I call edutainment. I'm like, y'all
are gonna laugh and learn. So I love to blend
(41:34):
humor because I act like I'm a comedian sometimes with
law to help people really understand certain things. So I
think that helps and it helps you to demystify the law.
I think other amazing resources too, are not just like
it's gonna be crazy what I'm about to say, Chat
(41:54):
GPT with boundaries. Okay, okay, listen the whole way. Those
are every rights of course that I can use chat GBT.
Wait a minute, Okay, so machine learning is amazing. I
actually have a certification and generative AI for the legal profession.
And what I understand about chat GBT and other AI
models is that they are amazing at breaking down general
(42:18):
legal concepts, broad scope legal concepts. So if you say,
you know, what is a trademark or what is a copyright,
then they're really good at explaining that. They are absolutely
terrible at giving you legal advice. If you said I
got sued and I need to respond to this, what
should I do, It's not going to be able to
tell you that, or if it does, it could do
(42:39):
something called hallucinate. Hallucinate means it's gonna make stuff up.
That's literally what it means. And so use it as
a tool for like really broad scope type stuff and
really trying to understand different things, but also leverage that
when you say you know what, I need to go
and try to build a relationship with somebody who's an
(43:00):
attorney who's going to be able to provide me what
for So I would say, definitely, those are some amazing resources,
myself included. Don't forget about the USPCO clinics and searching
for your state bar because that is such an underutilized
resource that people don't even realize. There's so much help
out there for you if you're starting a business.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
That's awesome. So the next question is what advice would
you give to someone who is just beginning their journey
in the entrepreneurship and is feeling overwhelmed by all of
the legal requirements.
Speaker 1 (43:32):
Go to a law school clinic, get a pro bono attorney.
Do not span everything that you just earned on hiring
legal counsel. And here's the reason why you don't know
what you're doing most of us don't. Well, you really
don't know what you're doing in the beginning because you're
still trying to figure out who you are, who you serve,
(43:52):
how you want to serve them, Do you really want
to do this? So I would say, just be mindful
of how much you invest. That's why I said hey two,
Because you know, if you make an investment of two
percent and you don't really get a return on it,
it's not like it's going to cripple your business. If
you turn around and say, Okay, I spent fifty percent
of my revenue on an attorney, that's an unwise investment. So,
in my opinion, try to get as much free resources
(44:14):
as possible while there's a lot of help available to you,
because the longer you are in business, you will begin
age out of some of the grant programs, some of
these entrepreneurial programs because they're only for people who hate
you've been in business for five years or less, you
know you have X amount of revenue or less, you're
going to really mature out of that. So again, look
(44:36):
for the free resources. Get involved in these accelerators, Look
at the stuff that your city is actually doing. One
of the most amazing experiences that I had was I
actually was in a six to eight month program and
basically I kind of got what they called a street
wise NBA. I mean, it was robust, but it was
better than any mastermind that I ever paid for. And
(44:58):
I didn't have to pay for it because it was
offered by the City of Charlotte, and it really took
me through financial stuff and how to read financial statements.
I finally understood liquidity, profitability, how to read a profit
and laws statements. How did that different from a balance sheet?
You know? How can I look at certain numbers and
understand the health of my business. But some of the
(45:20):
masterminds I was in they were great. They allowed me
to connect with other people and expand my network, but
it didn't teach me the nuances of what it was
like to run a healthy business. It was more so
focused on sales. So if I re you, I would
be looking at those particular programs. Also, do not sleep
on getting certified. So in North Carolina we have something
(45:42):
called hub certification. It's historically underutilized businesses. It may be
something different in your state. But just because I had
that certification, I got a twenty five thousand dollars business
grant from the state of North Carolina for just applying
and then they gave me the money around the pandemic
just because I had the certification. And so I asked
(46:03):
other lawyers like a year or two prior, Hey are
you guys certified? And they told me it's not really
worth it. It doesn't really work well for attorneys. I'm
so happy I didn't listen to them because I would
have been twenty five thousand. I would have not had
that twenty five k.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Okay, that's awesome. And our last question, which I think
is a really important question, is how long does it
typically take to get your trademark approved?
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Lord? Okay, So it depends. Okay, So generally, like the
fastest right now, fastest I would say is around twelve months.
And that's assuming that you know you have fouled your
trademark application. You also have proof showing how you're using
the trademark application, right and you submit it and you
(46:48):
don't really have any hiccups. Now, if you say to Korra,
I submitted the application, but I still need to submit
evidence I haven't made sales, it's gonna take you longer.
Because the only way for a trademark application to mature
to a registration it is for you to actually use
the product, meaning to use your trademark in connection with
the sales or product, or use your trademark in connection
(47:10):
with providing the service. So the longest trademark that has
taken for me to get for a client has been
around four to five years, but that was because the
client kept filing extensions, So I'd say like four years
for that client. So generally, on average twelve to fifteen months,
but depending upon how fast or how slow you move,
it could be.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Yeah, and that was definitely something that was new to me.
When we went over everything, I was like, oh, I'm like, okay,
so you'll do the business, use it, but it won't
get approved for at least twelve months. Got it okay?
And I think most people think it's like you submit
and then it comes back a week later and it's like,
all right, you're good to go. And that was like
one of the biggest myths or misconceptions that I had
(47:50):
around it. So that was definitely helpful for you to
give insights.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Yeah, and some people think, oh, I have I can't
do anything until it comes back. It's like no, no, no,
you should be doing you're good marketing. Continue to do
that while you're waiting for our proof.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
It's kind of like building your resume or your portfolio,
so that by the time yeah, okay, and that makes
that makes so much sense. So can you share with
all of our listeners the best way for them to
get in touch with you, stay in touch with you,
so that if they need you for legal advice and
want to work with you, or just want to stay
connected with you and your brand, how they can best
do that.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
Absolutely, yeah. So one of the best ways that you
can do if you go to my Instagram and on
any like real or if you send me a DM
and you type free, I'll give you a link to
schedule a free consultation with me. You can also go
to our website which is Creatorsoft Firm dot com and
you can submit an inquiry and then you'll also receive
some information from us. So those are the best ways
to stay in touch with me. And if you love
(48:45):
a good old phone and you want to speak with
my virtual receptionist, you can do that, sweetie, and you
can call nine eight zero two seven seven zero four
three zero.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Thank you so much, Saguer, you have been an amazing guest.
I thank you so much for your time and appreciate
you being here.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
Thank you for having me again, it's so blessing, and
also thank you for giving me the privilege of serving you.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
Thanks for tuning in to soft Life, CEO. I hope
that today's episode gets you a little bit closer to
achieving your definition of a soft life. If you're ready
to start the journey from hustler to soft life CEO,
go to the Soft Life ceo dot com backslash Society
for a thirty day free trial in my coaching community.
If you found this episode helpful, share it with a friend,
leave a review, and don't forget to subscribe.
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