Getting Rich Covfefe

We live in an era where news, information, and trends move very quickly. Words, phrases, or ideas that were obscure or non-existent yesterday can be the top trending story tomorrow. These overnight trends are now routinely used by opportunists in trademark applications. But trademarks are meant to be used to identify the source of and to distinguish the goods and services of one seller or provider from those of another. Indeed, as the USPTO recently reiterated, “[t]he Trademark Act is not an act to register mere words, but rather to register trademarks…. The more commonly a phrase is used, the less likely that the public will use it to identify only one source and the less likely that it will be recognized by purchasers as a trademark.” For example, when the President tweeted out the word “covfefe” on May 31, 2017, the internet’s use of the word in social media, public discourse, and merchandise exploded. The word was not only…

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