Brexit Right… to the Trademark Office, as Applicants Vie for Brexit Trademark Rights

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Anytime there’s a catchy new buzzword making headlines, you can bet there will be a slew of trademark filings. More and more, we’ve seen the trend of someone or multiple someones trying to register a trademark for some news item, meme, or new buzzword.  Brexit, the term dubbed for Britain leaving the European Union, is no exception. A number of players in the US have filed to register the Brexit trademark, and it’s already registered in its native UK.

Over in the UK, the term has already been registered by Mark Kingsley-Williams, founder and director BREXIT-Trademarkof Trademark Direct, a UK trademark services company. But Mark isn’t using it for a cheeky new product, he told Trademark Review that he secured it in order to protect it from others who might try and stifle debate. According to Mark, “I have an interest in politics, and I noticed that the term Brexit was out there and would become widely used as the debate moved forward. I thought the term should be free for anyone to use during the referendum campaign, and so I registered it without the intent of using it for my own commercial ends, but to protect the referendum debate so it couldn’t be stifled by someone else potentially registering the term and having an agenda in their enforcement of it.”

Well it’s different story here in the U.S. While there is no clearly senior user of Brexit in commerce for their particular goods, several applications have been filed to register a BREXIT trademark. Here’s what we found:

Word Mark: BREXIT

Goods and Services: IC 033. US 047 049. G & S: Hard cider

Mark Drawing Code: (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK

Filing Date: June 24, 2016

Current Basis: 1B

Original Filing Basis: 1B

Owner: (APPLICANT) Boston Beer Corporation CORPORATION MASSACHUSETTS 1 Design Center Pl., Ste. 850 Boston MASSACHUSETTS 02210

____________

Word Mark: BREXIT

Goods and Services: IC 005. US 006 018 044 046 051 052. G & S: DIETARY AND NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS; DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION; DIETARY AND NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION IN A PHOSPHOLIPID ENCAPSULATION SYSTEM; GLUTATHIONE IN THE NATURE OF A NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT IN A PHOSPHOLIPID ENCAPSULATION SYSTEM; VITAMIN C PREPARATIONS IN A PHOSPHOLIPID ENCAPSULATION SYSTEM; RLIPOATE IN THE NATURE OF A NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT IN A PHOSPHOLIPID ENCAPSULATION SYSTEM; GABA (GAMMA-AMINOBUTYRICACID) WITH L-THEA NINE IN THE NATURE OF A NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT IN A PHOSPHOLIPID ENCAPSULATION SYSTEM; NUTRITIONAL AND DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS FEATURING A BLEND OF PHYTOEXTRACTED POLYPHENOLIC ANTIOXIDANTS, R-LIPOIC ACID (RLA), TARGETED VITAMINS (Bl, B5, B6), SELENIUM, KELP EXTRACT AND HIGH-POTENCY NATTOKINASE DESIGNED TO MAXIMIZE METAL DETOXIFICATION PATHWAYS IN A PHOSPHOLIPID ENCAPSULATION SYSTEM; ARTEMISININ IN THE NATURE OF A NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT IN A PHOSPHOLIPID ENCAPSULATION SYSTEM

Mark Drawing Code: (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK

Filing Date: June 24, 2016

Current Basis: 1B

Original Filing Basis: 1B

Owner: (APPLICANT) Quicksilver Scientific, LLC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY COLORADO Ste. 101 1376 Miners Drive Lafayette COLORADO 80026

____________

Word Mark: BREXIT

Goods and Services: IC 025. US 022 039. G & S: Clothing, including t-shirts and hats

Mark Drawing Code: (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK

Filing Date: June 24, 2016

Current Basis: 1B

Original Filing Basis: 1B

Owner: (APPLICANT) Vivek Jayaram INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES 33 N. LaSalle Street Suite 2900 Chicago ILLINOIS 60602

We’ve got a hard cider, a dietary and nutritional supplement, and a clothing line. What’s next? It will be interesting to see in late September whether the USPTO cites any of them against the other. We’ll keep you updated!

Should IP Attorneys Use Flat Fee or Hourly Fee Billing?

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The number of hours you bill per week is a common concern in the life of a lawyer – especially if youfees work in a law practice with other lawyers. It can be a pain to always watch the clock and tricky to estimate costs to clients. Billing by the hour and watching the clock is easy and safe for the lawyer, but causes clients a whole lot of heartburn. It is not the only way! For some attorneys (like Intellectual Property Attorneys), it can be easier on the client and the attorney to use a flat fee for legal services. If you’re on the fence about how to charge, here are some things to consider in the flat fee vs. hourly fee debate.

The Pros of Flat Fees

Charging flat fees has a lot of pros, and for IP Attorneys, it can make more sense than billing hourly rates.

For one, there’s a matter of tracking time. Who wants to constantly monitor their time for each and every task they perform? It makes the work seem robotic and it’s easy to make a mistake. Forget an email here and a phone call there… those .1 and .2 hours add up eventually.

Flat fees also force you to be more efficient – leaving more time to work on other projects and perhaps end up billing more than you would have.

Time is also not a great indicator of value. After your first hundred trademark registrations (or if you use NameWarden), the time it takes you is not equal to the value you are providing the client. It’s the same for other tasks like portfolio management or monitoring marks.

Let’s move past time and onto client perception. Let’s face it – no one wants to enter into an agreement with no idea of how much the work is going to cost. In your client’s eyes, they are purchasing services, not time. They do not actually care about renting your afternoon. They want you to answer a thorny question or drive a business result. Flat fee pricing makes it easy for a client to know what they are about to spend and it removes the barrier of worrying about time and the uncertainty of cost.

The Pros of Hourly Fees

Hourly fees are how many law firms base their compensation structure. Charging flat fees also means you need to change how you assess promotions, compensation, and bonuses.

In terms of trademark office actions, enforcement, and litigation, it may be hard to asses a flat fee for a process that could go on longer than expected. Can you really calculate all of the time spent meeting, emailing, calling, and researching before the case even happens?

Clients also tend to be more considerate of your time when they know they have to pay for every minute of it. That means less frequent emails, phone calls, and requests – all of which can be time consuming.

Which to choose

The beauty is that it doesn’t have to be one or the other. You can decide to charge flat fees for things like copyright, trademark, and patent registration and then bill hourly for office actions and adversarial matters.  You can your clients which they prefer and figure out what makes the most sense for your practice.

One note: If you decide to go entirely flat fee based, spend the little bit of time it takes to get specific in the scope of each project. This will prevent you from losing your shirt on an indecisive client or a case that blows up.