“Very demure, very mindful.” This phrase, coined by TikTok star Jools Lebron, is inescapable. The original video posted to TikTok has amassed over 50 million views and has over 90 thousand posts using the audio. Although already a successful creator, Lebron looked to expand her personal brand only to find out her phrase had already been trademarked by someone else. This legal conundrum begs the question, should celebrities and influencers be allowed to trademark everyday words and phrases?
Many celebrities, like Taylor Swift and Jay-Z, have trademarked phrases and words associated with them. Taylor Swift has placed trademarks on the words “nice to meet you” and “where you been?” which are lyrics from her song “Blank Space.” Additionally, Jay-Z and Beyoncé have a joint trademark on their daughter’s name “Blue Ivy Carter.” But there are key differences in these trademarks. One is a common everyday phrase and the other is a name.
Placing trademarks on original phrases for the purpose of selling merch and other branded items makes sense to me. Everyone should be able to profit off of their own original words. Paris Hilton has the phrase “that’s hot” trademarked for the purpose of selling branded merchandise. Lebron was going to do the same, until a man in Washington, Jefferson A. Bates, began the trademark process before her.
In an emotional video posted to TikTok, that has since been deleted, Lebron stated that someone had trademarked her signature phrase before she could. She said she felt like she failed herself by not filing the trademark sooner. But honestly, who could blame her?
I think people should be able to trademark original phrases or phrases that they make popular. What I don’t like is people trademarking anything and everything, like Taylor Swift trademarking “nice to meet you.” Everyone uses the words “nice to meet you.”
It can come off as greedy when influencers and celebrities think they are entitled to trademark commonplace words. In the case of Lebron, a trademark is necessary to protect her brand possibilities and her livelihood.
Lebron, a trans woman, was planning to use the phrase to put on merch and base brand collaborations on. She used the money gained from the TikTok influencer fund to fund her transition. She was already making money via collabs with brands like K18, Yitty, and Smashbox by the time Bates’ trademark was acquired. Clearly, there is an opportunity for profit for Lebron. Taking that opportunity away from the original creator of this phrase is immoral.
Another prominent influencer, Alix Earle, has recently come under fire for allegedly copyrighting her own racist tweets to keep people from posting them and exposing her. Although the claim that copyrighting her own tweets has been denied, it is still a possibility that others could do this to conceal the truth.
The trademark-stealing situation has since been “handled” as Lebron said in a recent TikTok post. She stated that she has a legal team now and is in the process of acquiring the official trademark.
Overall, I think trademarks can be futile but are also incredibly important to the credibility of a personal brand. Trademarking should be used on truly original ideas not as a cash grab.
