“Very demure, very legal”: can you trademark a trend?

It’s one of this summer’s hottest memes. Now, the content creator behind the “Very Demure” TikTok trend is attempting to register it as a trademark.

Jools Lebron went viral when she jokingly described how women should behave in the workplace, advising that female staff act in a “demure” and “mindful” manner.

The phrase has catapulted Lebron to internet stardom, with thousands of marketers and brands hopping on board the trend. The savvy TikTok user planned to trademark the phrase. But, according to Lebron, at least two people appeared to have beaten her to the filing.

Lebron lives in the US, where laws on trademarking are different to the UK. Below, we explain what the rules are for British business owners on copyrighting a word or phrase.

Not very demure, not very mindful

In a now-deleted video, Lebron previously told her following that she had not been fast enough to trademark the phrase. Celebrity news site TMZ reported that one was a man in Washington state, Jedderson Bates, who had filed to trademark “very demure, very mindful”.

Presumably, the entrepreneurial Bates planned to print the phrase onto t-shirts and hoodies to capitalise on the momentum; something Lebron was originally planning to do herself.

Source: tiktok.com/@joolieannie

In the post Lebron, who is a transgender woman, reportedly said she wanted to use the money earned from her newfound fame to pay for her transition. “I wanted to do so much for my family and provide for my transition,” Lebron said. “I just feel like I dropped the ball.”

Large brands such as Netflix and Verizon had already begun employing Lebron for marketing purposes. However, if the rival filing had been accepted, Lebron wouldn’t have been able to use the catchphrase on any official merchandise or in any sponsored content.

Can you trademark a phrase?

American trademarking laws are very different from the UK. For companies in England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, it is possible to trademark a slogan or catchphrase. However, it is trickier than registering a run-of-the-mill logo trademark.

This is because the only requirement for trademarking a slogan in the UK is that it is “distinctive”. Filings will also generally only be accepted if they:

• Become well-known through repeated use, such as on marketing materials
• Contain a ‘word mark’ that has already been registered with Companies House (such as your business name)
• Are not generic or descriptive (eg. ‘the nation’s favourite credit card’)

Based on the above requirements, it is unlikely that a generic, non-recognisable statement such as “very demure, very mindful” would qualify for trademark registration in the UK.

However, a key difference across the pond is that, in the US, you acquire rights to a phrase through use. In the UK, it’s through registration, even if there is prior use by another party.

Because Lebron has already become the face of the demure trend and has used the catchphrase in previous partnerships, this may have protected her in the trademark battle.

Happily, she has since revealed in a new TikTok post that the trademark dispute has been “handled”, suggesting that the two competing filings may have been rejected.

That said, the event underscores the importance for UK founders of registering a trademark. If a competitor pips you to the post in ol’ Blighty, there is very little you can do to argue.

Trademark wars

The story of a viral, homemade TikTok video that captures the attention of giant global corporations is truly a tale for our times. But there have been crazier trademarking battles.

Here are five other trademarks that (almost always US) celebrities have tried to file for:

• “That’s Hot” – trademarked by socialite, Paris Hilton in 2004
• “This Sick Beat” – trademarked by singer, Taylor Swift in 2015
• “Yuuup” – unsuccessfully trademarked by rapper Trey Songz
• “Superhero” – trademarked by Marvel and DC Comics in 1979
• “Flavour Town” – trademarked by Guy Fieri in 2017

Read about six more bizarre copyright infringement cases in the UK, and who won.