TikTok influencer Jules Lebrun says ‘very polite’ branding issue has been ‘addressed’: NPR

No more tears over a huge mistake by Jules LeBron. video Posting on her TikTok account this week, the cashier-turned-social media star simply said, “We’ve dealt with it and I’ll leave it at that… my mom has a team now!” She didn’t elaborate.

If you haven’t been following, here’s the gist. LeBron videos with common phrase The phrase “so humble, so conscious” has been a huge trend lately. Celebrities including Jennifer Lopez and Khloe Kardashian have been making their own “humble” videos. LeBron even did an interview on CBS Mornings with Jimmy Kimmel guest host RuPaul.

As her TikTok audience has grown into the millions, at least two people have filed to register her mindful logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Jefferson Betts of Washington has filed for “Very demure.. Very mindful,” and Cassandra Pope of California has filed for “Very Demure Very Cutesy.” Neither applicant responded to NPR’s requests for comment.

Trademark application is not a guarantee.

It’s important to remember that these are just applications, says Jason Lott, managing attorney for client engagement at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

“When someone files an application, it doesn’t automatically mean they own it or that they’re the one who has the rights to it,” Lott explains. “They’re just filing an application and saying to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, ‘Hey, this is my trademark, and I want to have it protected across the country.’”

Saying it’s “my trademark” doesn’t necessarily mean it is, and that’s where lawyers come in.

Lott says there’s a “huge backlog” of applications awaiting review by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office attorneys. One reason: During the pandemic, people’s side hustles became their full-time businesses and there was a surge in applications, Lott says.

Once that review It startsThere is a 30 day “opposition period”.

“During this period of opposition,” Lott says, “someone might suddenly come out and say, ‘No, no, no, I’m the original user of this. I’m using it to signal the source of my own goods and services. Everyone’s thinking about me.’”

In a state of “extreme humility,” millions of people are now thinking of Jules LeBron. When she learned of the news, she posted a since-deleted video in which she blamed herself and cried for dropping the ball. Her fans took to social media to express their outrage and support for her.

“This is so messy” He said Shante Bennett on TikTok: “It’s global. Everyone knows she started it. It’s crazy.”

Yet it happens a lot. Remember the phrase “hawk tuah”? There are more than 30 trademark applications for the phrase in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database, including by the woman who first said it on social media.

“Good faith” or “brand trolling” request

Anyone “who has good faith in using a trademark can … file for a trademark,” says Deborah Gerhardt, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Doing so gives early applicants an advantage, she adds, “because if two people use the same trademark in the same business, the person who uses the trademark first wins.”

Jefferson Bates to request The date is August 20, more than two weeks after LeBron started using the phrase.

“If it can prove that consumers see it as the source and that it came on the scene later, it may have superior brand equity,” Gerhardt points out.

TikTok influencer Jules LeBron has partnered with Verizon.

Verizon

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Verizon

Bates seems to be making a hobby of trying to register trademarks. There are multiple applications for his name in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database. “Trademark professionals have a word for this type of person,” says Gerhardt. “We call them ‘trademark trolls.’”

Meanwhile, brands have lined up to work with Jules LeBron. She’s chosen her favorite movies and TV shows for Netflix’s “Very Humble, Very Mindful” category and promoted Verizon’s phone replacement policy. A “cracked screen” and a “bright pink” phone aren’t her idea of ​​“humble,” FYI.

“The volume and speed with which people interacted with LeBron,” said Leslie Berland, Verizon’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. video It was “unprecedented” for the company.

“One of the things about Jules is that people are so supportive of her. They want her to succeed,” says Berland. “They want to see her, as they say, ‘pick up her bag’ and get to the next level in her career.”