You know that the reputation of your business can mean the difference because success and failure. In this blog entry, I am going to explain how registering your trademark is an important way to protect your professional reputation. If you don’t protect your brand, someone can use your name, logo, or slogan, and you can’t stop them. Someone could also use your name, logo, or slogan and hurt your business by doing disreputable business. Two Trainers, One Stolen Logo I once knew someone – we’ll call her Sally – who moved cross country after riding with a trainer – we’ll Read More
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Nonprofit Property Purchase
Depending on your mission, you may have a nonprofit that needs property to run its programs. For example, if you are a horse nonprofit, you invariably run into the issue of where to hold your programs. Having horses means there is a need for land to house those horses as well as having a safe, secure place where you can run programs with them. I have seen several scenarios where equine nonprofits have leased property and then run into difficulty when the lease ends. I have read Facebook posts from horse nonprofit leaders desperately seeking land for horses that need Read More
The Importance of a Medicaid Trust
The October 2019 issue of The Atlantic contains an article that highlights the importance of an Irrevocable Medicaid Trust. In the article, the author discusses how older individuals may lose their homes if they need go into a nursing home and need Medicaid (also known as MassHealth in Massachusetts) to pay for it. She asserts that it is a little-known fact that most people don’t know to address unless they have a lot of assets and are doing estate planning. I am here to tell you that you need to protect your home if you think you will need to Read More
An Office Action
Many people are under the mistaken impression that once they file their trademark registration for their equine business, it is automatically approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). That is not the case. The USPTO can deny the trademark for many different reasons. Some are simple and easy to fix, and some are substantive. What is an office action, and what should you do when you get one? What is an Office Action? The USPTO considers many factors when determining whether a trademark should be approved for registration. The foundation of those factors is that the trademark Read More
Supreme Court Allows “Immoral” or “Scandalous” Trademarks
Back in January, I wrote a blog post about the US Supreme Court agreeing to hear a case concerning “immoral” or “scandalous” trademarks. The case concerned the attempt by Mark Brunetti to trademark the word FUCT. This summer, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that the law denying such marks violates the First Amendment because “it disfavors certain ideas.” In its decision, the Court cited certain marks that were allowed, such as a game called “Praise the Lord,” while other marks, such as “Bong Hits for Jesus” were denied. The Court left open the possibility that Congress might Read More