The 3 Cs to watch out for when it comes to your brand…or life in general!

Thursday March 3, 2022. By: Porshia Hartel

Starting a business seems pretty simple at the start of your journey. Elevating your business to make sure you are protected against the IRS with a business entity structure and putting back funds for tax season is a little stressful. Managing the orders and client inquiries can be overwhelming. Interacting and maintaining a social media presence can be exhausting. But having your brand—your hard work—copied, taken from you, or ripped off is downright infuriating.

 

I know you are thinking, ‘But if someone copies my work, rips off my work, or takes it from me, I will just sue them!’. Yeah, you should absolutely take legal action in these instances. The real question is, can you?  You can if you Secure the Brand® properly with a registered trademark!

 

Rosezena Pierce, The CEO of R.J. Pierce Law Group, P.C. got real and broke down 3 types of people you need to watch out for in her Marks of a Mogul Podcast. These people are known as the 3 Cs, and they are shady!

First, we have the copycat. We all know them. When they see a good idea, they take it and put their name on it. “They don’t move until you move” says Rosezena. “They are not creative…” they will use your words, brand story (brand colors, slogan, logo) and it will be slightly different enough to pass as theirs. When you know and they know, and your supporters know the truth! They are a copycat. What’s yours is theirs. And it is hard to prove without a legal trademark. They try to be sly. They may change the spelling of your brand name by 1 letter and call it theirs, copy your branding on social media, have the same packaging designs, host events on the day… whatever idea is yours, is now theirs. It can be hard to prove, especially if you have not Secured the Brand®, properly. But they are amateurs compared to the other C friends we need to look out for.

 

One that we all know too well is the counterfeiter. Rosezena says it best, “They ain’t got no shame in their game.” They knock off your exact brand. They want to appear as you but are usually more affordable or accessible. The differences are subtle. Take Louis Vuitton bags for example. The shade of the leather straps and iconic LV imprint is very different when the real deal bag and the counterfeit bag are compared. To an untrained eye it would be hard to spot the difference when not side by side.  Even the font of the “authentication” stamp on the inside of the bags are different enough that side by side it is obvious. But again, when it is spotted by itself, it would be hard to confirm. You cannot count on the buyer to know or care about the damage of the counterfeiter.

If you Secure the Brand ® and get a legal trademark you can stand up to these counterfeiters. You can serve them with a cease and desist letter and even get customs and border control to help you out. Yup, that’s right call in the big dogs. If you register your trademark with the US customs and border control, they will not allow non-verified vendors to import goods as your brand, they will confiscate the goods and give to you to destroy as you see fit. You can also collect up to 3Xs the profit a counterfeiter makes from knocking off your brand, if you have a legally registered trademark. The crazy thing. The counterfeiter isn’t the worst C you want to avoid.

The dirtiest C is the confiscator. They just take it all. Because they can, when you aren’t protected with a legally reregistered trademark. They aren’t just dirty…they are DIRTY. We usually see this when there is some personal drama involved. Your brand is confiscated by someone you know, and they know your business (literally). They know you have not taken the steps to Secure the Brand®,  so they go and file a trademark for your brand, but for themselves. Now all your hard work, ideas, and brand appears to be theirs on paper. You can oppose this, but at a cost. Filing an opposition can cost you up to 20xs the amount of filing for a legal registered trademark.  This is why your 1st step in Securing the Brandhttp://www.rjpiercelawgroup.com/the-3-cs-to-watch-out-for-when-it-comes-to-your-brandor-life-in-general/ and starting your business needs to be filing for your trademark. Once someone steals all your work and sets your legacy back it can be detrimental to your future. Securing yourself and your brand will set you up for so much success and protect you in the future if you any of the 3 C’s try to be shady!

R.J. Pierce Law Group, P.C. makes it easy! We do the heavy lifting to make sure you are taken care of. There is a trademark package for everyone at every level in their brand story. We care and want to see more Bizprenuers out here being successful.

Check out the Marks of Mogul   Podcast with more episodes coming in 2022 to get the real Trademark Tea ®  with @TheBizLawyer herself, Rosezena Pierce.

Check us out on all social platforms:

Website: www.rjpiercelawgroup.com

Facebook:  @rjpiercelaw R. J. Pierce Law Group

IG: @TheBizlawyer, @MarksofaMogul, @RJPierceLaw

LinkedIn: R.J. Pierce Law Group, P.C

Pinterest: @securethebrand

And where you stream your favorite Podcast: Marks of a Mogul™

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