[00:00:02] Speaker A: Ramping up your business. The time is near. You've given it hard, now get it in gear. It's Passage to Profit with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: I'm Richard Gearhart, founder of Gearhart Law, a full service intellectual property law firm specializing in patents, trademarks and copyrights.
[00:00:20] Speaker C: And I'm Elizabeth Gearhart, not an attorney, but I do marketing for Gearhart Law and I have my own startups and podcasts.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Welcome to Passage to Profit, the road to entrepreneurship, where we talk with entrepreneurs and celebrities who tell their stories about their businesses and their solutions.
[00:00:36] Speaker D: It's time now for Intellectual Property News. One of my favorite segments of the show, of course, being an intellectual property attorney. And that means working with patents, trademarks and copyrights. So what is in the news today, Elizabeth?
[00:00:51] Speaker C: Well, Snooki lost out to a cat.
[00:00:53] Speaker D: You mean the Snooki from Jersey Shore?
[00:00:56] Speaker C: She doesn't have her name trademark because of the cat.
[00:00:58] Speaker D: Well, please, can you explain further?
[00:01:01] Speaker C: Well, there was a cat that was featured in these children's books named Snooki the cat.
[00:01:06] Speaker E: Oh.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: And the trademark office decided that her Snooki would be too close to the Snooki the cat books and there would be confusion. So she didn't get her trademark.
[00:01:15] Speaker D: So I just want to say I find that really odd that the trademark office would zap her on her trademark because of a cat book. I'm not that these things don't happen at the trademark office. It's entirely possible, but it does seem like they're kind of traveling in different channels of commerce. Right. So one of the things that the trademark office looks at is the similarities of the names and then also the types of goods that are being sold. So Snooki was probably looking to merchandise her name, also protect it for entertainment purposes. Cat book, that's usually, you know, books are usually typically in different categories. So I remember looking and seeing that there was a fair amount of social media from Snooki on this. I think she was pretty frustrated, but at least she took advantage of the PR opportunity that this rejection provided for her. But the interesting thing too is that names are protectable with trademarks. And so if you are really out there and you want to protect your name and your name is an important part of your brand, then you can protect those with trademarks.
[00:02:24] Speaker C: Is there a place where people can go to find out more about trademarks?
[00:02:28] Speaker D: Which funny you should ask. You can go to learn more about Trademarks.com and you can download a free trademark booklet that will tell you a lot about trademarks or you can go there and book a consultation with me or one of the attorneys at Trademark Earhart Law and we can help you with your trademarks or your patents or your copyrights. So it's an excellent educational resource and it's important for your business that you protect your name, because if you don't protect it, somebody else could start using it and create a lot of confusion.
[00:03:02] Speaker B: Passage to Profit is a nationally syndicated radio show appearing in 38 markets across the United States. In addition, Passage to Profit has also been recently selected by Feedspot Podcasters Database as a top 10 entrepreneur interview podcast. Thank you to the P2P team, our producer, Noah Fleishman and our program coordinator, Alicia Morrissey, and our studio assistant, Risiket Bussari. Look for our podcast tomorrow anywhere you get your podcasts. Our podcast is ranked in the top 3% globally. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram X and on our YouTube channel. And remember, while the information on this program is believed to be correct, never take a legal step without checking with your legal professional first. Gearhart Law is here for your patent, trademark, and copyright needs. You can find
[email protected] and contact us for a free consultation. Take care everybody. Thanks for listening and we'll be back next week.
