In an period when entrepreneurs consider Google and AI can change authorized counsel, trademark lawyer Rosezena Pierce makes a compelling case for skilled steering in defending mental property.
The analogy comes rapidly, delivered with the boldness of somebody who has used it numerous instances to enlighten keen entrepreneurs: “Will you construct a home on land you don’t personal?” asks Rosezena Pierce, leaning barely ahead for emphasis throughout her interview with Munson Steed on Rolling Out’s Enterprise Alternate.
Pierce, a trademark lawyer who makes a speciality of mental property safety, isn’t simply posing a rhetorical query. The comparability types the muse of her apply and her warning to enterprise homeowners who is perhaps tempted to chop corners when establishing their manufacturers.
The land beneath your enterprise
“It’s the identical equal to constructing a enterprise or a model in case you truly don’t personal it,” Pierce explains, “as a result of, identical to a land proprietor can are available and tear that lovely home down, somebody can truly are available and make you stop and desist using that enterprise title in case you haven’t cleared the rights.”
This sensible knowledge comes from years of watching entrepreneurs make pricey errors—investing in product packaging, advertising supplies, and model improvement solely to find they’ve constructed their enterprise on mental property they don’t truly personal.
For Pierce, the mission extends past particular person purchasers. As a Black feminine lawyer, she sees her function as very important to neighborhood empowerment, significantly for creators and entrepreneurs from marginalized communities who’ve traditionally seen their improvements appropriated with out correct compensation.
“Particularly within the magnificence business, significantly within the Black tradition, we create and we encourage loads of tendencies, however we’re the final ones to revenue from them,” Pierce notes, drawing from her earlier profession as a licensed cosmetologist.
The trademark labyrinth
The dialog with Steed reveals widespread misconceptions about trademark safety. Many entrepreneurs don’t understand that trademark legislation encompasses 45 totally different courses, 34 for merchandise and 11 for companies, permitting related names to coexist in numerous industries.
Pierce illustrates this with recognizable examples, “That’s why we have now chocolate, cleaning soap, Mac make-up, Mac pc, Delta airline, Delta faucet, Pandora jewellery, Pandora music.” These corporations function efficiently with the identical or related names as a result of they perform in solely totally different trademark courses.
To drive house the complexity, she recounts the case of LeBron James, who filed for the trademark “Extra Than Athlete” solely to face opposition from a nonprofit group that had beforehand registered the phrase in a special class for charitable companies. Regardless of the USPTO initially approving James’s functions for leisure companies and attire, the nonprofit is now opposing his logos, claiming potential confusion.
This instance reveals the hidden pitfalls even refined enterprise entities with entry to authorized counsel can encounter within the trademark panorama.
Prevention versus intervention
Pierce distinguishes herself from attorneys who “wish to struggle fires,” positioning herself as a substitute as one who prefers “to stop the hearth.” This philosophy types the core of her apply and her pitch to potential purchasers.
“It’s going to value you method far more to struggle the hearth,” she cautions, acknowledging that many entrepreneurs balk at authorized charges however fail to think about the exponentially greater prices of litigation or rebranding if trademark points come up after important funding.
“We defend our automobiles earlier than we drive them off the automotive lot,” Pierce says, suggesting mental property deserves the identical proactive method.
The AI lawyer fantasy
When Steed brings up the rising reliance on know-how, significantly Google and AI, as substitutes for authorized counsel, Pierce acknowledges know-how’s worth whereas highlighting its limitations.
“Know-how is shifting quicker than so much, and AI is right here to remain, nevertheless it shouldn’t be right here to interchange,” she says. “Individuals can use AI as a device, however one factor AI goes to lack is a human part.”
The lawyer explains that AI can not anticipate future enterprise expansions or adjoining alternatives a human lawyer would naturally think about throughout session. The place AI may narrowly tackle the query requested, a talented lawyer envisions potential progress trajectories and ensures complete safety.
“Should you sit down with an lawyer like myself,” Pierce explains, “I’m going to say, properly, Mr. Steed, additionally defending your journal enterprise, you additionally might need to launch an attire enterprise, but in addition, too, by way of your journal enterprise, you additionally provide teaching, you’ve gotten talking engagements.”
She concludes with the definitive limitation, “AI can not symbolize you in court docket,” referencing American Bar Affiliation requirements.
A name for neighborhood authorized empowerment
The dialog takes a extra private flip when Steed asks what Pierce would say to younger ladies constructing magnificence manufacturers in regards to the significance of working with feminine attorneys.
Drawing on her distinctive background as each a cosmetologist and lawyer, Pierce positions herself as significantly suited to grasp the sweetness business’s nuances. Her expertise as a Black girl in each fields informs her dedication to serving to creators not simply develop merchandise however defend and revenue from their improvements.
When requested what she would inform younger folks contemplating authorized careers, Pierce outlines three compelling causes:
- Schooling, offering information to a neighborhood that usually lacks entry to authorized data
- Financial empowerment, constructing methods inside the Black neighborhood unbiased of exterior DEI initiatives
- Legacy creation, establishing foundations for future generations
“Proper now all people is speaking about rolling again these DEI initiatives,” Pierce notes, “however the truth that they’re exhibiting us that they’re not intentional about our success because the Black neighborhood, we have to uplift and upheld ourselves.”
In an expert panorama the place entrepreneurs more and more minimize corners on authorized safety and depend on technological shortcuts, Pierce makes a compelling case for the worth of specialised authorized counsel. Her analogies resonate with readability—the unprotected trademark as precarious as a home constructed on borrowed land.
For creators and entrepreneurs navigating an more and more advanced mental property panorama, Pierce’s warning is evident: defend what you construct, or danger watching another person revenue out of your creation.