65 // Trademarks with Josh Gerben

As a product creator, how do you prevent confusion with other similarly-named products in the market? Josh is an intellectual property attorney specializing in trademark law. He joins Mark and Adam to discuss why trademarks exist to protect consumers, not businesses; the legal differences between ™️, ®, wordmark, and logomark; patent trolling and trademark bullying; and the APIs used to monitor trademark databases. Plus: the trademarks of Apple, Monster Energy, and LeBron James.

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Show notes

• Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben)
• Gerben Intellectual Property
• TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System, or TESS)
• origin of the name “Google”
• Lanham Act
• retainer
• Metamuse episode on Brand
• US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
• common law right
• Dove soap, Dove chocolate
• case law vs statute
• expert testimonial
• mutually assured destruction
• word mark vs logo mark
• trademark watch service
• trademark bullying
• Gerben Trademark Library