By US Daily Review Staff.
The latest news in the Trayvon Martin death is an attempt by the decease’s mother to trademark his name. Kevin Price, Host of the Price of Business and Publisher of US Daily Review, visited with Charles Knobloch, a leading intellectual property attorney on the situation. Here is that exchange.
Price: So the mother files for trademark protection on their names and slogans. It is reported that the mother says she does not intend anyone to sell goods using the trademarks. Her attorney, when asked if the mother had any designs to make a profit, he says “none.” So, what do you think? Can somebody go out there and file for trademarks to stop others?
Knobloch: This is a good point. Actually, you must be using the mark in commerce or have a bona fide intent to use the mark in commerce in order to seek trademark registration. The Trademark office can refuse to register the mark and a trademark registration can fail for lack of intent to actually sell any goods or services using the mark. A trademark is deemed “void ab initio” on that ground. A trademark can be voided on that ground. A recent court case came out strong on that point – preventing a trademark application to go through.
Depending on how they filed the mark, if they had an intent to use the marks as a mark of membership or some other form of “collective” activity, the application for registration may have merit if the intent can be shown. Otherwise, generally, you can’t go around using trademark applications to reserve logos and slogans unless you have particular products or services that you truly intend to sell using the logos and slogans
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