Victor Baranowski, patent attorney with Schmeiser, Oslen and Watts, resisted that interpretation and told the International Business Times that such trademark applications may be granted for the purpose of protecting an image rather than for generating profit. "If you trademark the name, that's going to prevent others from doing it and potentially capitalizing on it in a negative way or a different way than what you want... in a case like this, there's going to be others who would want to," he said. "So does she want to let somebody else do something with her son's name or does she want it for herself?" Days later, The Smoking Gun revealed that an unrelated Los Angeles musician had also filed a trademark application for the same phrases, for use on hooded sweatshirts.
Kyle A. Richardson is the editorial director of Promo Marketing. He joined the company in 2006 brings more than a decade of publishing, marketing and media experience to the magazine. If you see him, buy him a drink.