I genuinely enjoy all the folks I’ve come to meet in this industry. In the dozens of years I’ve been at the SHOT Show, I’ve met the whole spectrum: The superstars who have the respect of the entire industry, including their competitors; the quiet geniuses who work behind the scenes to provide some of the greatest innovations; the tough guys who love a fight (even in [...]
This one goes back more than a few years, but it’s being resurrected because the issues are timeless, and it’s a little amusing looking back when I was just a bit feistier, at least in print. Email me if you have a good guess as to what year it first appeared. It was so tempting, but I didn’t dare poke the giant beast, even though I could have gotten away with it, [...]
How to Pick Trademarks That Help You Sell, and Won't Get You Sued One of the most fun parts of my law practice is helping clients pick trademarks. I don’t charge extra if I come up with an idea you love enough to use on a new product, or for your new company. I always promise that some day when my portfolio of successful brand picks is impressive enough, I’ll put a [...]
Branding Strategy for My New Product Finally, I can now reveal how a trademark attorney picks brands, and even goes a bit overboard to maximize the potential value of the venture. It’s all about my hex key tool invention concept I wrote about some time ago. To recap, I used to get irritated with needing two Allen wrench sets and never knowing whether a socket head [...]
(And, the Hilarious Lawyer Letter I Never Got to Send) One of the things I love best about my work is working for creative inventors and firearms business owners. One of the things I love least is dealing with some of the “other” lawyers out there. The saga begins when one of my oldest and favorite clients had me file a trademark application to secure the trademark [...]
It’s a story I have told for years: I had lunch with a new client. He has some great technology, and a strong foundation for a new business. And I faced the too-frequent dilemma when confronted by a lousy trademark he wanted to adopt. Do I tell him my actual opinion, or do I salute and earn the reward of helping him register a weak brand name that will impair the [...]
