'Very demure' TikTok creator still has a chance to trademark her phrase, says expert

WASHINGTON - The internet was up in arms after learning that TikTok influencer Jools Lebron now-viral ‘very demure, very mindful’ phrase was copyrighted by a Washington-state man. 

"I just invested so much time and money into this, and I feel like I did it wrong and didn't try hard enough," said LeBron in a tearful TikTok video last week. 

But experts say it's not over yet for Lebron. 

"Nothing has been trademarked yet," said Northeastern Law Professor Alexandra Roberts in an interview with FOX 5's Katie Barlow. "All that happened is a couple of different people applied to register phrases related to her viral videos as trademarks, but there's a lot left to happen in the United States Patent and Trademark Office before that actually turns into a registration."

Roberts says that the USPTO could reject the other applications or Lebron can oppose them and argue they should not be able to register the trademark. 

There are also rules in place around the intent to use the trademark. 

"In the United States, trademark rights are really based on use in commerce in connection with specific goods or services. There's a strategy where you can file based on an intent to use something as a trademark in the future, and that will kind of hold your place in line, and then you get a couple of years to start making the use. But again, you'd need the use for the registration. So if these folks don't actually start selling something or providing some service using the mark, you know, ‘very demure, very mindful or very cutesy’ or whatever it is that they applied to register, they will never actually get those rights," said Roberts. 

But while Lebron still could trademark her "very demure" phrase, Roberts says in a viral moment it makes sense to move quickly if you want to capitalize on it. 

"Once you have the trademark and the specific plan to use it, and you know what it is that you want to sell, what the goods and services are, you can go ahead and file the application. You don't need a lawyer to do that. And it only costs $250 per class, so kind of the category of goods or services. And that again will kind of hold your place in line so that once you're ready to start making use,you can access and get those, those trademark rights," said Roberts.