TrademarkDoctor.net

TrademarkDoctor.net TrademarkDoctor.net is your trademark law resource. TrademarkDoctor.net provides affordable, approachable trademark registration and trademark searches.

Trademark attorney Angela Langlotz educates and entertains with information related to trademark law, branding, and trademark registrations. Her informative and lively videos are popular on her YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/

05/22/2026

https://trademarkdoctor.net

Gorilla Glue vs Gorilla Snot: Consumer Confusion Case Study!

Sometimes consumer confusion can cause actual harm!
In today's case study, a woman confused GORILLA SNOT hair product with GORILLA GLUE, and stuck her hair to her head. I hope she's okay, poor thing!

Consumers rely heavily on brand look and feel -- sometimes we call this "trade dress" -- when they are making buying decisions. This is why it's important for your brand identity to be unique!

In this case, no one likely thought of the fact that the GORILLA brand spray adhesive would be mistaken for GORILLA SNOT (revolting, but whatever!) hair styling product. The brands may bear a passing resemblance with their trade dress, but they're not commonly seen in the same area of the store, and aren't the type of goods that are commonly sold by the same company. So we wouldn't typically say that the two brands were likely to be confused, such that the two trademark registrations could not exist side by side.

Trademark Doctor offers comprehensive wellness care for your very important brands.

Book a consultation with attorney Angela Langlotz to discuss a trademark issue. Talk with her for 15 minutes and discover if a trademark is right for you. https://bookme.name/langlotz/website

For additional information and to find Angela online visit:
Website - https://trademarkdoctor.net
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05/21/2026

When Can I Use The 'TM' Symbol With My Trademark?
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Angela, when can I use the TM with my trademark? I'm going to spend the next two minutes answering this. I'm Angela Langlotz. I go live here on weekdays to talk trademarks and copyright. Ask me any trademark or copyright law questions by dropping them into the comments below.

I'll answer them on a future Live. So someone wants to know, when can I use the TM with my trademark? How soon can I do that? And the answer is whenever you want. Whenever you want to put people on notice that you're using a particular word or phrase or symbol as a trademark, you can put the TM next to your trademark and use that it's intended to put people on notice that you are claiming trademark rights to that word or symbol or phrase, even though you may not have registered it with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

So the answer is anytime you want to put other people on notice, you can use the TM.

Where do you put it most of the time we put it on the right. Sometimes upper right, sometimes lower right. But the convention is that we put it on the right. Why? I don't know.

It's just convention, but you can put it like upper right or lower right wherever you think it looks best. I try to put it someplace where it's kind of in obtrusive. It's not just hanging out looking weird, so feel free to put it where you like it. Best. I'm Angela Langlotz.

If you have trademark or Copyright law questions, just drop them into the comments below and I'll answer them on A Future Live. You can find me online at trademarkdoctor. Net. I'm also on YouTube at video. Trademarkdofter.

Net. Youtube and on Facebook at Facebook. Com. Trademarkdoctornet and I have a TikTok channel. Just look for me there at trademarkdoctor.

Trademark Doctor offers comprehensive wellness care for your very important brands.

Book a consultation with attorney Angela Langlotz to discuss a trademark issue. Talk with her for 15 minutes and discover if a trademark is right for you. https://talk.trademarkdoctor.net/15

For additional information and to find Angela online visit:
Website - https://trademarkdoctor.net
Facebook - https://facebook.com/trademarkdoctor
Twitter - https://twitter.com/trademarkdoc
LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/company/trademarkdoctor
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05/20/2026

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Can I Register My Own Name As A Trademark?

Yes, you can register your own name as a trademark!

Remember that anything can serve as a trademark, so long as it distinguishes your goods and services from another's goods and services. Let's look at an example.

Morgan Freeman owns the trademark MORGAN FREEMAN for "Entertainment services, namely, live, televised and movie appearances by a professional entertainer. " He claims use of this trademark back to 1971. This means that no one else can offer these services or any related services using the MORGAN FREEMAN trademark or any trademark that might be "confusingly similar" to this trademark.

What might be "confusingly similar?" That's hard to specify without actually comparing the proposed mark, but in general, a mark is considered "confusingly similar" if it would confuse the consumer into thinking that the goods or services offered by the owner of the proposed trademark came from the owner of the existing trademark. There doesn't have to be actual confusion shown; a likelihood of confusion is sufficent reason not to issue the proposed trademark.

Trademark Doctor offers comprehensive wellness care for your very important brands.

Book a consultation with attorney Angela Langlotz to discuss a trademark issue. Talk with her for 15 minutes and discover if a trademark is right for you. https://bookme.name/langlotz/website

For additional information and to find Angela online visit:
Website - https://trademarkdoctor.net
Facebook - https://facebook.com/trademarkdoctor
Twitter - https://twitter.com/trademarkdoc
LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/company/trademarkdoctor
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05/19/2026

Merry Christmas Trademarks??
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Someone has applied to register MERRY CHRISTMAS for fabric. Likelihood of issuance: Not so good! Why? Because the trademark examiner will likely find that the trademark fails to function as a trademark. Let's discuss this common rejection.

Today I want to talk about Merry Christmas trademarks. I'm Angela Langlotz, trademark and copyright attorney. I'm going to spend the next four minutes discussing this and the failure to function objection. Many times, trademark applicants try to register common phrases like Merry Christmas or Happy Birthday as trademarks.

Now, sometimes these get through. It's kind of a facts and circumstances kind of test. But I want to flag a common trademark rejection, and that is the failure to function as a trademark. What does that mean? Well, recall that the purpose of trademarks is to allow consumers to identify the source of the goods or services.

For example, when I see that Nike swoosh, I don't even have to see the word Nike. I know that that trademark is associated with Nike. I also know that those shoes are not going to fit me because the heel is too wide. So I avoid those and I go for different shoes. But when you look at a trademark, it has to convey to the consumer that the trademark is associated with a certain source.

Now, if you have a common phrase like Merry Christmas or Happy Birthday, that doesn't really tell the consumer anything about the source of the goods or services. In other words, I don't know by looking at that trademark, the company that is associated with the Merry Christmas or the Happy Birthday putative trademark. Why? Because we use that all the time. Right?

We say Merry Christmas to everybody and Happy Birthday to everybody. That doesn't mean that those terms function as a trademark. So it's a matter of consumer perception, because remember, if the consumer doesn't perceive your trademark as a trademark, then it's not really capable of functioning as a trademark. And that's true with both the Merry Christmas and the Happy Birthday. Now I want to show you something that was recently applied for.

I'm going to switch the screen. So this is the Merry Christmas trademark application, and it's for "fabric sold as an integral component of finished clothing items, namely shirts, T shirts, sweaters, hooded sweats hat, swimwear tank tops," et cetera. They have applied for this based on an intent to use it. Why do we know that? Because it's 1 B.

That means it's an intent to use. If it were 1 A, it would be based on their actual use. So these people are kind of fishing, it seems like, for a trademark registration so that they can tie up the term Merry Christmas for fabric that they're making into clothing. I don't think that this is going to work, but we'll have to wait and see. If you'll notice here,

If I go back to the list view, you'll notice that there are a number of trademarks already registered. How do we know? Because it says registration number right here, right in this column in this column right here, it says registration number. So there are a number of registrations for Merry Christmas and variants of Merry Christmas. Those trademarks may have been issued before the Trademark Office tightened up examination requirements. They're now getting much stricter about this sort of thing because applicants, especially applicants from China, have been abusing the USPTO system and getting trademarks that actually aren't functioning as trademarks at all.

They're just trying to prevent other people from using phrases like Merry Christmas, especially on Amazon platforms for selling goods and services. They're trying to get a trademark to prevent other people from making Merry Christmas clothing, Tshirts, et cetera. Now remember that's not the purpose of trademarks. The purpose of a trademark is to identify your goods and services, not to prevent other people from using common words and phrases like Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday on their merchandise. I'm Angela Langlotz.

You can find me online trademarkdoctor.net. I'm also on YouTube at video.Trademark

Doctor.Net/youtube. You can find me on Facebook. I'm on Facebook.

Com/trademarkdoctor. I'm also on TikTok. Just go search Trademark Doctor. Ask me any trademark or copyright law questions by dropping them into the comments below. And don't forget to like and subscribe subscribe to get all my newest content.
Book a consultation with attorney Angela Langlotz to discuss a trademark issue. Talk with her for 15 minutes and discover if a trademark is right for you. https://talk.trademarkdoctor.net/15
For additional information and to find Angela online visit:
Website - https://trademarkdoctor.net
Facebook - https://facebook.com/trademarkdoctor
Twitter - https://twitter.com/trademarkdoc
LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/company/trademarkdoctor
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05/15/2026

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If I Registered My Name As A Trademark, Do I Have to Use The Trademark Symbol Every Time I Write My Name?

No, that would be quite awkward, wouldn't it? Use the TM or "circle R" symbol when you are using your name as a trademark. How do you know when you're using it as a trademark? You're using it as a trademark if you're using the term as the source from which your goods emanate. For example, if your name is MORGAN FREEMAN, and you have a radio show, and you've registered the name 'MORGAN FREEMAN' for your radio show, you would use the trademark symbol when you're writing the name of your radio show. But when you're signing your name for the restaurant bill, you're not using your name as a trademark, so you don't need to put the "circle R" when you write your name down.

Imagine how awkward it would be if you had to use the "circle R" symbol every time you or anyone else wrote your name! Oh, and you also can't register a trademark to prevent other people from uttering your name. You have rights only inasmuch as your name is used along with your goods or related goods in a manner that would reasonably be construed as a trademark. Trademarks aren't a 'magic bullet' that you can use to stop other people from writing about you or talking about you.

Trademark Doctor offers comprehensive wellness care for your very important brands.

Book a consultation with attorney Angela Langlotz to discuss a trademark issue. Talk with her for 15 minutes and discover if a trademark is right for you. https://bookme.name/langlotz/website

For additional information and to find Angela online visit:
Website - https://trademarkdoctor.net
Facebook - https://facebook.com/trademarkdoctor
Twitter - https://twitter.com/trademarkdoc
LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/company/trademarkdoctor
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/trademarkdoctor/
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/trademarkdoctor/

05/14/2026

A Spectacularly Bad Idea! Don't Do This!
https://trademarkdoctor.net

In the next installment of "things people do to get themselves sued" we have this bad example. He'll probably hate on me for this, but I'm not doing it to be mean. I'm pointing it out because it's so common.

Using another's trademark is ALWAYS a bad idea. Always. You may get away with it for a while, but why risk getting sued?

Today I want to share an example of a spectacularly bad branding idea. I'm going to spend the next three minutes discussing this. I'm Angela Langlotz, trademark and copyright attorney. I go live here on weekdays to talk trademarks and copyrights. Don't forget to like and subscribe to get all my latest stuff, and if you have any questions, drop them into the comments below. I'll answer them on a future Live.

So a friend sent me this. It's from the fellow marketer. And I just want to preface this by saying, I'm not trying to pick on anybody, and I'm not trying to be mean. I'm not trying to be a jerk, but when I see these things, they make really good examples of what not to do. And I like to talk about these because they are so common and such a bad idea that I don't want you to see it and emulate it.

What am I talking about? So earlier this week, I talked about how we should all stay away from famous brands. Don't play off them. Don't quote unquote, parody them or do things that we think is parody. Just stay completely away from them.

Build your own brand. And then yesterday, somebody sent me this. Now, unless you've been living in a cave for the last 50 years, you will surely recognize this golden arch symbol, and I've blocked out this person's contact information on the card because I'm really not trying to hold them up to public ridicule. But I really want you to understand why this is such a bad idea. Now, what do we have here?

We have the McDonald's Golden Arches, but upside down, right? But even upside down, they are so recognizable that you can't look at this and not think about the golden arches, right? And then the other side of the card says "branding served all day." And that's something a lot of fast food restaurants say.

We serve breakfast all day. We serve all day, whatever. And then also, you'll notice that the colors are the McDonald's colors. It's the red and yellow with the McDonald's upside down golden arches. This is a spectacularly bad idea.

Why? Well, because this person isn't associated with McDonald's at all. But he's creating through the use of their trademark, even though he's using it upside down, it's still recognizable -- through the use of their trademark to sort of advertise his branding services. And yes, this is intended to be a parody. I get it.

However, he's creating a false association between him and his business and McDonald's, so the McDonald's company might get pi**ed off and say, hey, you don't work for McDonald's. You're not one of our contractors. You're not associated with us at all. So why are you using our trademarks? Cease and desist.

The other thing is, it's a little bit cheesy, in my opinion, because he's not associated with McDonald's, and it just seems a little bit lazy to me to do this because it's just not very creative, and it's not very original. And I just wish that people wouldn't do this because it just comes off as kind of lazy and scammy. To me anyway. And I don't think anybody wants their business associated with lazy and scammy. Also, the other thing, too, is McDonald's is fast food. Mcdonald's selling point is consistency and everything is the same.

Now, if you're seeking out marketing services, you probably don't want McDonald's. You probably want something that's customized for you and your business, not some cookie cutter, we make all of our burgers the same type of thing. So I think that not only is this branding, if you want to call it that, giving the wrong impression about this person's services, it's also kind of lazy and scammy. So please, folks, don't do this.

It's just not a good idea. And you're using somebody else's trademark without their permission, which is surely going to get some kind of backlash for you, whether from McDonald's or from other people who just think you're being cheesy. All right, so don't use other people's trademarks. I'm going to continue to preach about that until you all get tired of hearing about it. But every time I find a juicy example like this, I will share it with you.

I'm Angela Langlotz. Find me online at trademarkdoctor.net. I'm also on YouTube at video.

Trademarkdoctor.net/Youtube. I'm also on TikTok. I have a channel there. Just go to Trademark.

Doctor and I'm also on Facebook at Facebook.Com/trademarkdoctor.

05/13/2026

How Do I Transfer A Trademark To A New Owner?

If you sell or otherwise transfer your trademark to a new owner, you need to be sure to put that transfer on file with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The owner of record in the trademark database is the only entity that has the right to renew the trademark. So if the current owner and the owner listed on the trademark registration don't match, you may have a problem renewing your trademark.

If you sell a trademark, it's really important to remember to make this transfer. If you overlook this, you may have a problem later when it's time to renew your trademark.

Trademark questions? Drop them in the comments below, and I'll answer them in future live video! Find me online at https://trademarkdoctor.net. I have a huge video library at video.trademarkdoctor.net/YouTube .

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