Also, I've had a personal friend who got trapped in this, except she had created a whole brand but never made it officially legal and someone swooped under her, trademarked the name first, sent my friend a cease & desist, and there was nothing my friend could do. She lost literally everything overnight and had to immediately rebrand.
(I helped her with the PR and rebrand, and we fortunately were able to not only save her audience but grow it BECAUSE the way we told the story strengthened her positioning. But still -- tragic it happened at all.)
People are really out here being shady, and it's not cute.
(This was in the online coaching space and the woman who swooped her brand name was in her community, by the way. It got pretty ugly for a while.)
The biggest piece of advice: Protect yourself and your assets (including intellectual property) at all costs.
Also, I've had a personal friend who got trapped in this, except she had created a whole brand but never made it officially legal and someone swooped under her, trademarked the name first, sent my friend a cease & desist, and there was nothing my friend could do. She lost literally everything overnight and had to immediately rebrand.
(I helped her with the PR and rebrand, and we fortunately were able to not only save her audience but grow it BECAUSE the way we told the story strengthened her positioning. But still -- tragic it happened at all.)
People are really out here being shady, and it's not cute.
(This was in the online coaching space and the woman who swooped her brand name was in her community, by the way. It got pretty ugly for a while.)
The biggest piece of advice: Protect yourself and your assets (including intellectual property) at all costs.