Hahaha!PILLOW FIGHT! How I Taught a Harvard Boy A Lesson About TrademarksI was surfing Twitter one evening in February when I ran across a story about David Hogg’s new scheme. He’s the Parkland High School student who turned anti-gun activist after his school was attacked and many of his classmates murdered. Doubts have been raised about his truthfulness about his presence and exploitation of the evil act and its tragic result, and I don’t have anything to add to the accusations that he Hogged the limelight for personal gain. It did work out well, because with an academic record and SAT scores that are below standards and got him rejected by several “Cal State” schools, he received admission to Harvard following his surge to national prominence.Hogg has gone beyond the gun issue and became a liberal activist, happy to share his liberal perspective on many national issues, especially anything against President Trump. He had just announced his formation of a company to make pillows in competition with MyPillow founder and outspoken conservative Mike Lindell.So as my eyelids drooped after a tough day of patenting, I noticed Hogg’s tweet announcing his brand name:I came across this a few hours later, after 9PM (late for a father of two kids under 5). Then I got an idea. An awful idea. I had a wonderful, awful idea. Could this political attention-hogg have made the ultimate product announcement blunder? I’ve seen it countless times: the new product is announced, but the company didn’t apply first to register the trademark.I quickly clicked over to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website and searched Good Pillow: Nothing filed!So I dragged myself out of my February bed, and trudged into my office down the hall, firing up the system. I rechecked the search, and verified that the pencil-necked geek (it takes one to know one) had blown it. So right then and there, I developed the sincere intention to use the trademark Good Pillow on the Goods of “Pillows.” I filed the trademark application myself on an Intent-to-Use basis, and became the proud owner of priority legal rights through the nation against anyone who started using that or a confusing similar brand of pillows or related goods. Translation: I scooped him. Legally.True Intentions RequiredNotice that I didn’t say that I filed it to vex or irritate Hogg. Nor to undermine his nefarious leftist plans, nor to protect an honorable conservative businessman in Mike Lindell. I didn’t do it to “own the libs” or to be the Stanford guy (Engineering, class of ’84) who bested the Harvard kid (no, no issues there, I never even applied to Harvard). I didn’t even do it to have a good story to write about in my newsletter – at least not primarily.I did it because I really, genuinely, and authentically intended – at the moment of clicking under oath – that I truly intended to offer pillows under the Good Pillow brand name. As I tweeted shortly after:You should know that I will never get enforceable trademark rights unless I actually follow through on the intention and start selling goods with that trademark on them. But the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiner will review the case late this year, and I’ll have the rights sewn up. Reserved, if not yet preserved. So, anyone would be foolish to invest in using that brand for related goods because of the good possibility that I follow through on my intentions. Intent-to-Use (ITU) trademark application are powerful.https://gunpatent.com/pillow-fight/
