Wants Apple.com, YouTube.com, Target.com, Google.com, Elton John trademarks — “Trademark King”
Guy files trademarks matching names of celebrities, major brands and their domain names.
A couple weeks ago I wrote regarding Trademark King, Inc. The Indiana firm had filed a trademark on Trademarking.com, a domain name owned by domain investor Rick Schwartz.
When I reached out to Douglas Lehocky, the person listed on the trademark applications, he told me it didn’t matter if someone else owned the domain name Trademarking.com. If he got the trademark first, he had rights to the domain names. He would have his lawyer have the domain taken down. He also told me he buys and sells trademarks, so he knows what he’s talking regarding.
Pretty stupid, but it was just one misguided trademark application. Until now.
I just checked recent USPTO trademark applications, and here’s what I saw:
All of those car firm .com trademark applications? Yep, Trademark King is behind them. And he’s not just going following car firm domain names and names. He also filed trademarks on famous names like Elton John, Pete Rose and Muhammad Ali, as well as corresponding domain names.
Not content to just go following billion dollar car firms and celebrities, Trademark King also filed trademark applications related to the NCAA Final Four, Google.com, Target.com, YouTube.com, Twitter.com and Facebook.com.
He’s also got the sports covered: NFL.com, NBA.com, NHL.com.
You can see a full list of Trademark King Inc applications here.
The trademark “goods and services” descriptions for the applications state:
IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: Brand development and evaluation services in the field of trademarks, trade names, and domain names.; Creating trademarks for others.
They have first use dates of late November.
Rick Schwartz might wait around ahead of going following the Trademark King, but these big firms aren’t going to just wait-and-see. And if Trademark King thinks he’s going to get paid off, he’s sorely mistaken.
