The Ultimate Blog Podcast - Blog Trademarks Explained with Berkely Sweetapple

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

Are you unsure about blog trademarks – if you need to trademark, how to do it, or what it really means to trademark? Today on The Ultimate Blog Podcast, we’re thrilled to welcome back attorney Berkley Sweetapple for a conversation about all things blogging trademarks. She’s sharing everything you need to know about trademarks: why they’re important, how to monitor them, and how you can use your trademark to monetize. Whether you’re a seasoned blogger or just starting out, understanding trademarks is crucial to setting your blogging business up for success!🔗Check out the show notes for Episode 161!

Hey bloggers, are you serious about turning your blog into a money-making machine? One of the ultimate milestones is getting on an ad network. And let's be honest, figuring out how to get there can feel overwhelming. That's where the ultimate blog roadmap comes in. Our course and membership community are designed to help beginner bloggers like you build a rock-solid foundation for success. For just $97 a month, you'll get access to step-by-step training, all the resources you need,

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We have three monthly calls and a forum that's always open for collaboration and help. The best part, no more overwhelm. With the ultimate blog roadmap, you'll know exactly what to do and when to do it. It's a monthly membership designed to take the guesswork out of blogging and help you reach your goals for just $97 a month. If you're ready to join us, head over to ultimateblogroadmap.com and let's get started. Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. This podcast is the podcast we wish we had when we started blogging. I'm Amy Reinike and I'm Jennifer Draper.

Our episodes dive deep into how to monetize your blog, sharing unique insights and practical tips. We bring you in-depth interviews with successful bloggers and experts who offer valuable, actionable advice. Our mission is to educate, support, inspire, and empower you in your blogging business. Welcome to The Ultimate Blog Podcast. All right. Welcome back to The Ultimate Blog Podcast.

Today we have Berkeley Sweet Apple back with us. We always love bringing on the podcast to talk about all the legal things that come with blogging. And today in specific, we are going to talk about trademarks, which if you've listened to any of our previous episodes, you've heard us mention trademarks, but we really did want to kind of kick off the new year talking about trademarks again and why they are important, how to monitor it, what you need to do after you have your trademark, and then how you can also use your trademark to monetize.

So you know that that's important to us here at the Ultimate Blog Podcast is helping you monetize your business. So Berkeley, welcome back. We're glad to have you. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yes.

We love any chance that we can talk to Berkeley. She is the attorney that we recommend all of our students. And if you've ever reached out about trademarking or privacy policies, anything like that, Berkeley is our go-to gal. So it's so nice to be able to talk to you. She's in sunny Florida, and we are in freezing cold Kansas City at the moment. So we're just going to live vicariously through Berkeley today because it's so much nicer there than it is here.

This is the best time to be in Florida. I will say not it is not the best time to be in Kansas. So. OK, so to kind of kick us off, Berkeley, I would love for you to just share with everybody and kind of remind for those who know or don't know. What is a trademark and how and why do bloggers need it? So a trademark is any word, phrase, or design that identifies the source of your goods or services. So that's kind of like the definition. If you think about a company like Nike, it's their brand name. So like the word Nike, it's the swoosh, you know, it's the Nike and like italicized font with the swoosh.

It's the phrase just do it. So all of those words, phrases and designs are trademarks of Nike. So for bloggers, it's probably going to be the name of your blog or any like slogan that you use. If you have any like courses, maybe your course name, and then the logos that go along with that. So trademarks are the only thing that give you the exclusive right to use your name or you know phrase or design in your industry. So a lot of people think that I have the LLC with the name or I have the domain or I have the Instagram handle.

All of those actually mean nothing in terms of brand ownership. So a federal trademark is the only thing that gives you that exclusive right and the ability to stop copycats. And if you don't have a trademark and someone else trademarks before you, you could have to rebrand and start all over with no notice.

Yeah, so it's a really important way to protect your brand as a blogger. So at what point do you recommend a blogger start to consider whether or not they should trademark? When you have a name that you know you love that you want to keep, that's when I would trademark because it's time sensitive. So the day you file is the day you have priority over someone who would come after you. And you want to make sure you're not infringing on someone else's trademark so you don't have to pay damages, which we'll talk about later in terms of monetizing. But you want to make sure first of all, when you choose a name that you're not infringing on someone else's trademark, even if you're not quite ready to trademark like the minute you start, make sure you're picking a name that's available.

not quite ready to trademark, like the minute you start, make sure you're picking a name that's available. Yeah, that would be a really big challenge when you're starting your business if you accidentally used a name that you shouldn't be using and you got hit with monetary damages, potentially before you even started making money, I would assume that would be a risk that you would be taking. So is there a way that you can go about making sure that the name that you're using is an option? Yes. So you can do your own search on the USPTO website. They have a search engine where you can search for your name. You can kind of narrow it down by industry. It is definitely not like where

you want to stop. So if you were like, I want to name my coffee company Starbucks with an X, and you had never heard of Starbucks with a CK, and you went and you searched Starbucks with an X, the real Starbucks wouldn't even pop up. So you'd have this false sense of security that the name is available because it's only picking up on an exact match. So the next step is to hire an attorney to do a comprehensive search. So when we do searches for clients, we use software that picks up anything that's like similar sounding, looking, meaning, foreign translations, because it's not just an exact match that could keep you from getting trademarked. So say you were like,

oh, I don't know, like Pearl Accelerator, and that was trademarked. Say you wanted to trademark Pearl Business, or Pearl and Co. Those like descriptive words are not gonna set your name apart enough from like the one that's trademarked with just Accelerator. It's a complicated process. I mean, I hate to say it, but it is. There's a lot that goes into trademarking

that I think it's just our recommendation. Can you do it on your own? Like Berkeley said, yes, you can. But there's a lot of things that attorneys are going to know to look for that we just aren't going to know, quite honestly. I'm a big fan of DIY because I have my DIY template shop and I do think that there are some things you can kind of get away with DIYing

when you're just starting out. Trademarking is just not one of those things at all. And the reason is because there's so many opportunities to mess up, like the search, you might think something's available. Like I have clients come to me all the time, they're like, well, there's this mark, but it's not similar enough to mine.

And I'm like, no, it actually is like very much too similar. And you should pick a new name. There's the application you can mess up. And then if you get a refusal and you have to submit like a legal brief, the trademark office will put in their notes, like you should hire an attorney to respond to this. And it ends up being like the same price when you hire an attorney to respond to one of those than it just did from the beginning. And they don't really let you correct things. They don't let you correct many things like when you get into the process after you file. Well in that process, I think that that's important to note too is the process itself is not a quick process. So kind of can you explain that to everybody, what that process entails and the length of time

that it's currently taking? I know that that can shift and change, but how long does it take to get a trademark? So from the time you file to the time you're fully registered, it can take anywhere from 13 months to two years, depending on what complications come up. That being said, the day you file is the day you have like priority over someone who would even file three days after you, but you don't have those like full trademark rights until you're fully registered.

And it often involves arguing with the USPTO and they'll say something's too similar, like your name is too similar to an already registered name or it's too descriptive or you didn't, you know, they don't like your specimen, like the proof of use where you have to kind of go back and forth and make them happy and try to overcome refusals. So what do you see in terms of success and people being able to, from when they start and file to actually getting a successful trade market.

Do most people succeed with that or do we have to go back to the drawing board sometimes? So it's very, very rare that we have, and I don't even know that this has happened to us, where we have a mark where we have told someone it's low risk and it ends up not registering. That being said, if we tell someone that it's high risk, like the Starbucks example I gave, and they still are like, I want to give it a shot, that sometimes happens where they don't go through and then they have to pick a new name, but they gave it a shot. Yeah. Yeah. So we've kind of gone through this process ourselves. And if you remember,

we used to have a course named the ultimate blog bootcamp. That course is no longer called the ultimate blog bootcamp because it was not able to be trademarked. So that was the big, that was kind of the precursor for the big shift. And then it was that question like, okay, if we're going to change the name, what can we change now that maybe hasn't been working? And so that's when we decided to turn it into the ultimate blog roadmap. Now it's the membership with a course component

and can serve you guys all so much better than we used to. Not saying the bootcamp wasn't good, it was, but like the roadmap is like really, really good. So it was honestly kind of one of those things. I will never forget getting that email back. You know, we launched the ultimate blog boot camp in 2020. We didn't trademark it. And I think we started the process to get it trademarked maybe in 2022, I think. And I can't remember all the dates. But when we got that email, this is not

able to be trademarked. It was kind of like, oh my gosh, this is who we've been. This is what we've done. I can't believe that we as bloggers who talk about trademarks in the past have let it get to the point that now we can't even trademark our own course name. But I will say that if that is you or if you've gone through that, use it as an opportunity to better yourself, to better your offer, to better your business. Having that frame of mind going into it was really helpful versus feeling like this is being done to us. We really had that frame of mind like this is happening for us as a way to go back to the drawing board.

How can we make ourselves better and make sure that we're in alignment with this new mark? And since we did decide to invest in the mark, how can we make sure that this is gonna be successful? Because trademarking is not an inexpensive thing to do. And we recognize that, especially as a new blogger. And like Berkeley said, I think that the thing to note there when it comes to trademarking is,

if you're really attached to your name and it's something that like you really don't want to go, I think that it's something that you want to consider because you want to protect something that you're aligning yourself with and a trademark is really the only way to do that. Securing the domain name, of course, is a big piece of that, but it's not going to keep you safe in regards to somebody taking your name. So that trademark process is one bit.

So after you have your trademark Berkeley, I think that that's something that I think is helpful for people to understand is so you go through this process, you have this investment of getting your trademark and now you have your mark and you're like, great. Okay, now I'm done. Is that true? Or I love that you're giggling or what's next? It feels like a trick question. False. You have to, so once you get your trademark, you're in charge of policing your trademark. And what that means is you're in charge of making sure that no one files a trademark that's similar to yours and gets it actually registered.

And if you notice, or like even in common law, even not trademarking. So if somebody is just using your name and hasn't trademarked it, you have to, you know, make sure you're looking out for that as well. And then the second step is actually sending a cease and desist and telling them to stop using your mark. And the reason you do that is to uphold the integrity

of the trademark, because if you don't, it could be diluted, is what they call it, and it loses enforceability. And you don't want that because you've invested a lot of money to have it. Yes, and then it becomes like in the public domain and generic and anyone can use it. So that is definitely something that you wanna consider.

I guess the point of me making sure that you're sharing This with people is it doesn't just stop at the trademark. Yeah. No, so we like Encourage our clients to sign up for monitoring services so that we put their mark in a software That then runs a report every month and tells us who's using it. And we can kind of sift through them and then tell our clients about the ones that they should be concerned about and send cease and desist in order to keep their trademark in good standing.

So it can be a huge undertaking once you've been trademarked to kind of keep track of making sure nobody else is using your name. Is that true? Like you're gonna have to monitor in a lot of places if you decide to do something like that yourself, right? Yes. I think that's why most people choose having an attorney do it just because we have the knowledge and the software and everything already kind of set up. Yeah. I think this is helpful because I think that there's,

there's certain things that, like you said, you DIY, there's certain things that you need. Somebody who has the expertise in the area to handle for you. And so we like to give the information and explain what it means. But also I think this is just a really important episode for all of our listeners and blogging students to hear so that they

can start to plan for what does running this blogging business look like. And this huge piece of it is trademarking and monitoring your trademark and understanding that you're going to have expenses related to that and being able to plan for it as well. But the other piece of it that I think was news to us and one of the things we were gonna talk about today is it's not only inexpensive, there are opportunities to monetize your trademark as well. Is that true and can you explain what that means?

Yeah, so the good news is you're not just like pouring money into something that has no value. So trademarks have monetary value. They're an actual asset. You can use them as collateral for a loan. You can sell them. Like when Elon Musk wanted Tesla, he paid $75,000 for the name. And I see this all the time where people get offered money for their trademarks. Or I have clients who want names and they're so attached that they buy trademarks from other people who are willing to sell them. So in terms of monetizing, just in terms of the financial side, there's what we already

talked about, which is like the cost of rebranding if you don't trademark. So that's $10,000, let's say. There's the cost of if someone trademarked before you or filed before you, but you've been using the name longer and you want to oppose their trademark, that starts at $20,000. Then there's once you already have your trademark, you can sell it. So that can range. Like it just depends on how valuable the trademark is, like how big your business is and all of that.

There is licensing your trademark out. So if you have a trademark and maybe you collaborate with someone and you wanna do like a venture with them and you license your trademark to like maybe on their merchandise, there's opportunities for licensing there. And then there's also monetizing infringement. So if somebody is infringing on your mark, you're entitled to profits during the time

they're infringing. So typically what we see is someone will send a cease and desist letter. And if they don't change the name, then they'll ask for damages. And that's all going to be understood better when it's being monitored. I mean, right. Yes, well, then because then you know who your infringers are, you know, who's infringing.

Right, right. That was something I didn't know. I'll be really honest. Like, when I went through the whole process, I just was so nervous about when I, so I changed my name as well. I was be really honest. Like when I went through the whole process, I just was so nervous about, so I changed my name as well. I was beautifully broken journey. I changed to love your body well.

And I knew I wanted to start a podcast and have the, you know, continue the blog and all that. And it was like, it was kind of that point in my business that I was like, I really don't want somebody to be able to take my name. Like I want it to be mine and own it. And I think that there was so much more to that story than I think a lot of bloggers truly understand,

I think, when they first get trademarked. I think it's that fear of just the name being taken or getting a letter to shut it all down, everything that we've worked for. But there really is so much more that is there, like you said, that is there to consider. Because I think you can look at the price tag and you can share that cost if you would like, Berkeley,

to getting a trademark. But I think that we look at that and it's easy to be like, I can't prioritize that in my business. And I'm sure that has to be something that you get back from people, especially bloggers who are starting. So what is your encouragement to a blogger who has that as their pushback?

I would just say that, so our price is 2,500 and then filing fees are per class. So right now they've moved it up in 10 days. It's 350 per class instead of it used to be 250. So it's like all in around $3,000. And if you think of the alternative of just like rebranding, like having a new logo created, your loss of customer recognition, so your customers and your clients are going to be confused and they might not actually recognize your new name.

So there's like lost profits there. And then just like the emotional stress of, you know, losing a name that you love. Typically people put the price on that more than the cost of trademarking. So it's actually not really a common pushback that I get. Typically when women come to me, they know they need it and they want it.

And, you know, obviously there's like the financial realities that people face. But typically, it's one of the first things people prioritize. I don't have to do a lot of convincing normally. Well, that's, that's awesome. That's good. That's good for business. But I think that that's something that we, you know, we can give people a lot of tools here on the podcast and within the ultimate blogger and map and And tell them and and this is a tool in your toolbox that you need to know if you're here to build a blogging business

This is an area that you need to consider and and have the conversation and get the understanding and I think that knowledge is power I think that that's when we can make those really good business decisions moving forward Jennifer and I we've shared this before we are not going to tell you to like just spend money to spend money. We're not in the game for that. There's a lot of ways that you can waste a lot of money, but our course in and of itself is saving you money because by hiring a website designer, you would pay so much more than you are ever going to pay. Being a member of the ultimate blog roadmap, it's like so much more. And so we, like Berkeley said earlier, we're not opposed to a DIY, but there are going to be things in your business that we just have to recognize.

This isn't in our zone of genius. This isn't something that I'm prevalent in. It's not something that I spend a lot of time on. So having an attorney who can help you through this process to where you can feel secure something that I'm prevalent in. It's not something that I spend a lot of time on. So having an attorney who can help you through this process to where you can feel secure in your business moving forward, I think is an area that if you're really serious about building your blogging business and you want to build that legacy and you want to make sure that you have something that can in turn be profitable for you and protect yourself,

then considering a trademark is something that we would just encourage any of you to do. And so Berkeley, what does that process look like for you? If somebody's like, all right, I'm ready to just take that next baby step forward and have the conversation, what does that process kind of look like for people to get in contact with you and work with you?

So we first have people fill out a short questionnaire just about their business, what services they're providing, what name they want to trademark. And from there we do the comprehensive search. After that, we help people kind of narrow down the classes to file in and prepare the application. And usually that process takes two to three weeks

until we file. And then from there, it's just, we're the ones in contact with the USPTO and handling everything and they don't have to do anything. So we kind of try to make it really easy where you don't have to do much, just fill out like a one page questionnaire. But we have signup options on my website.

So you can just kind of get started and pick a payment plan right on our website and someone on my team was very tech savvy and you get everything automatically the questionnaire and but it's supposed to be a very seamless experience and it's it's supposed to be fun so trademarking like why I love it and why I typically don't have to convince people to do it as much as like, you know, have an attorney review your contracts. Or it's an easier, like,

just thing for people to get on board with because it's so fun. Like, trademarking is you're owning the land that you're building your empire on. And it's like something that you own, yours. And you can stop people from using it. And you can monetize it. And it's just like, I get excited when one of my trademarks registers. So I registered like in my trademark era, because I like love that phrase. And I'm excited. I'm putting it on merch. And it's like,

it's like one of the fun things in my business. Think of it not as like illegal to do. It's like just you owning the land that you're building your castle on. I really love that analogy. Me too. One of my clients coined it. So I can't take credit, but she said it and I was like, this is awesome. It's so true. It really is. Because I think before you start the blog, so back it all the way up, before you started your blog, like you had that dream. This is what I want to do. And a lot of people, like a lot of people didn't have that thought

and start the blog that day. A lot of women, especially who are doing this, have thought about this. OK, I think this is what I want to do. And they take this time to decide, yes, I'm going to move forward with starting a blog. So by the time you've started it and like you're in that name process, you do get a little protective of it. Like, oh, I don't like when Love Your Body Well, for instance, came to me. I wrote it down and was I really immediately felt connected to it.

And I was like, I really don't want anybody to have that. Like, that means something to me. But I sat it on, if you're going to invest in it, here's my recommendation. I put it on a post-it on my desk for a little while. I think even before I reached out to you, Berkeley, and was just like, what does this mean? This phrase just popped into my head one day. So what does that mean to me? Is this how I wanna be identified?

And I just could not stop. And I was like, okay, yeah, like this is important to me. I wanna make sure that this isn't ever taken. And I wanna be known as that. And so when you feel that, I think that's when you know it's time. It's time to own it. And I say this about other things, but like I love the phrase, if it's not a hell yes, it's time to own it. And I say this about other things,

but like, I love the phrase, if it's not a hell yes, it's a no. And so I don't recommend going out and trademarking everything you've ever said or thought. You know, like love it, want to have it for a long time. And if you feel that connection and you'd be upset, if you'd have to change it, that's sort of my like internal emotional, you know, sign

that I should trademark something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it becomes an accomplishment. I hadn't thought of it like that, but it's an accomplishment. It's not just like a task that you have to check off your to do list. It's something like you should be proud of. Like I have a business, it all came from something I dreamed up. And now it's actually officially recognized and protected as well

Yeah, and you can put that R with the circle around it like it's big time. Yeah, that was a very exciting day I was very excited. I had to look it up how to do it and how to write that on my logo, but I was very Yeah Awesome. Okay. Well, I hope that by listening to this episode, you feel empowered by at least understanding what a trademark is and if that is going to be the next step with your blogging business. Berkeley is who we recommend working with for those trademarks. We've worked on a couple with her and it's been quite, like she said, a very seamless process. She's made it very easy to understand and we recommend that our members

go through her. We've had just nothing but great feedback, Berkeley. So we've told you that before, but I want to make sure to tell you that again. And also you did briefly mention, so I do want to say this as well, that you do also have the template shop as well. So your website needs like a privacy policy in terms of use. Berkeley does have a ready to use templates essentially on her site. I mean, you have to enter in your stuff in there, but you can use code SPARK20 there for her templates and get our discount with that. So I'll make sure to put a link to that in the show notes as well. But just protecting your website, protecting your brand is really, really important to us. We want to make sure that we empower you with the information that you need to know and understand.

And I think a lot of especially new bloggers, you don't know what you don't know. And so I hope this episode is educational and encouraging and empowers you to make the best decision for you. And Berkeley, I would love for you to tell them how they can find you and connect with you. And we will also put that in the show notes. So I'm on Instagram at Berkeley Sweet Apple. My template site is berkeleysweetapple.com and my law firm's berkeleysweetapplelaw.com. Feel free to DM me, send me a voice note or email me, whatever. Okay. We will put that all on the show notes. And thank you, Berkeley. We are very appreciative to have you part of our team.

Love you guys. Love you. Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about building your blog, visit theultimateblogpodcast.com backslash newsletter to get signed up for our email newsletter. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love for you to share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts. Thanks for tuning in today and we'll see you next time.