Hot Girls Read, NBA Trademark Trivia, plus other legal stuff

We hope you’re staying cool, getting ready for all the soccer, and looking forward to more news about trademarks, franchises, and other legal stuff.

In this edition:

Hot Girls Read? Do they? Is it a trademark?

What do trademarks have to do with franchises?

What NBA trademarks have changed since the Knicks last won the title?

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The newsletter will be on a short break next week, but we will be back soon!

Hot Girls Read - A Trademark Tale

Allie Mitrovich was obviously excited when her company received its federal trademark registration for the phrase “Hot Girls Read.” She posted on Instagram that “Hot Girls Read™ is officially ours 🤩 3ish years ago after I started reading more consistently and finally started to love to read, I put HGR on some bookmarks and crews and the rest is freaking history!!!”

Leaning into that historical moment, and “very gently with peace and love,” she announced on social media that she “officially [had] the trademark for hot girls read” in several categories. She told others “💛 with love” to stop using the trademark, announcing that she’d seen the term on “lots of items from other business[es] that follow me so if that is you please remove those listings from ur site as soon as possible.”

The “bookish” community was not pleased.

For those of you not as up to date with this community, there is a very popular subculture on TikTok known as “BookTok.” Allie Mitrovich and her company Allie Rose Co. are apparently active in the space and on other social media platforms. Their effort to claim ownership over the “Hot Girls Read” phrase did not play out quite like they hoped.

As thoroughly discussed in Marie Claire, “BookTok is furious.” Many questioned how Mitrovich could own trademark rights over what they see as a “community phrase” or slogan from the internet that had been in use long before Mitrovich claims to have coined it.

One “author, reader, and participant in the bookish marketplace” was so fired up that she filed a petition to cancel the trademark registration at the USPTO. Her petition explains that she and “similarly situated businesses in the bookish community are and will continue to be damaged by the continued registration of HOT GIRLS READ because the phrase is a common, widely used book-community slogan that many individuals, readers, creators, authors, and small businesses have used descriptively, ornamentally, and culturally for years, including before Registrant’s claimed date of first use.”

The petition may be related to a GoFundMe campaign to “stand with small book creators against trademark abuse.” The campaign initially sought to raise money to apply for “Allie Rose Co.” - the name of Mitrovich’s business, which she had not yet registered - apparently as a form of retaliation (which, for what it is worth, might have been its own form of “trademark abuse”).

In any event, after the petition was filed, Mitrovich issued an apology on social media and filed paperwork to surrender her trademark registration. She also filed new trademark applications to cover her business name Allie Rose Co., you know, just in case the “bookish” community still had it out for her.

From a legal standpoint, the USPTO can refuse registration of phrases that do not “function” as a trademark because they are so commonly used they do not indicate a single business. Even if these phrases are registered, others who are “damaged” by the registrations can petition the USPTO to cancel them.

Fun fact: The lawyer who filed the Hot Girls Read application uses the domain name thatdamnlawyer.com. This may also be a “community phrase” we’ve heard a time or two.

VANDERBLOEMEN LAW FIRM’S

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (VLFAQs)

What do franchises have to do with trademarks?

Our newsletter often discusses trademarks, franchises, and other legal “stuff,” but what is the relationship between franchises and trademarks?

When most people think of a “franchise,” McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, and other restaurant models come to mind. Legally speaking, however, a “franchise” can cover all sorts of businesses.

The term refers to a business arrangement where a trademark owner gives an independent business the right to use the trademark under certain conditions. For the federal franchise rule, those conditions include a “required payment” and the trademark owner exerting a “significant degree of control” over the franchisee’s method of operation or providing “significant assistance” in the franchisee’s method of operation. Some states have their own franchise rules with slightly different takes.

When a business arrangement qualifies as a franchise, the franchisor is required to provide certain disclosures - a Franchise Disclosure Document or “FDD” - to prospective franchisees before they sign a franchise agreement.

TRIVIA

(or what you may have really been scrolling for)

LAST ISSUE’S QUESTION

Congratulations to Friend of the Firm Linda Di Gregorio for correctly answering that Nick Cage’s famous uncle is Francis Ford Coppola, director of The Godfather and several other well-known films. Cage was in Raising Arizona, the Coen Brothers’ classic we mentioned in last week’s newsletter.

THIS WEEK’S QUESTION

The New York Knicks are trying to win their first championship since 1973. We looked back at the 1973 roster of NBA teams, curious to see which ones were still around and what trademarks they used. Some of the cities have changed, but the team names are largely still the same now, except for three teams. The Buffalo Braves became the L.A. Clippers, and the Seattle Supersonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder.

A third team eventually changed its name in 1997 to avoid what many saw as a connection to violence, even though the team still owns active trademark registrations for the old name.

What is this NBA team now called?

Reply to us if you think you know. We love hearing from you all, so please don’t be bashful about answering, even if you’ve already won or never won - it’s all in good fun and a nice way to stay in touch. We pick one winner from among the correct answers received, but do try to even things out from time to time.

Our law clerk (pictured) may need to find a nearby river soon to escape the heat, but she also wants you to remember that our newsletter, while sometimes a source of amusement (we think), is for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you want to be considered for the trivia question, please respond within five days of posting. We may link to third-party sites, but we cannot control the links or their content, and they may sometimes redirect to other locations after some time has passed. If you think a link is not leading you to the place we intended, please let us know.

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