Have your friends been describing everything they do as “very demure, very mindful”?
What’s not demure: the buzz around whether Jools Lebron, the influencer behind the trend, lost a trademark.
Jools Lebron…
… is a Chicago-based TikToker who posts beauty tutorials. Her video about doing her makeup in a “very demure” manner for work became a viral meme earlier this month.
She’s racked up 2.1m TikTok followers, appeared on “CBS Mornings” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and scored collabs with brands including Verizon and Netflix.
Meanwhile…
… three people who aren’t Lebron have filed related trademark applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office:
- Jefferson Bates of Washington State for “Very demure… Very mindful”
- Kassandra Pop of California for “Very Demure Very Cutesy” — seemingly the same Pop who founded Hive Social
- Almondia White of Ohio for “always demure and very mindful”
A trademark is any word, phrase, symbol, etc. that identifies a company’s products. For example: the Nike swoosh or its slogan, “Just do it.”
But an application is just that
It has to be reviewed — and there’s a backlog — before an opposition period, during which Lebron could step forward.
Law professor Deborah Gerhardt told NPR, “If she can show that consumers view her as the source and that [Bates] came to the scene later, she could have superior trademark rights.”
That may be what Lebron is doing, as she told her TikTok followers the situation was “handled” and that she’d “leave it at that.”
Plus, as The Verge noted, Bates applied for “all industries,” which isn’t how it works. You must define the industry in which you’d actually use the trademark.
A “trademark troll”…
… is a person or company that tries to abuse trademarks. Monster Energy is a notorious example, bullying any other company that attempts to use the word “monster” in any other context.
Bates apparently has a history of doing this as well. One of his pending applications is for “Broncos Country, Let’s Ride,” quarterback Russell Wilson’s catchphrase when he played for the Denver Broncos.
Given Lebron’s newfound fame, this may not go well for Bates; applications are public and usually contain the applicant’s phone number and address.
Several people have already rated Bates’ home on Google Maps as a one out of five stars, with one calling it “not very demure.”
