Word of the Month for February 2019: Corroboration

Have you ever had the experience where you are talking to a group of people and someone doesn't believe you and they say "prove it?"  I mean, the gall of some people.

What is helpful, in those situations is if someone is standing there and they've got your back saying, "no, she speaks the truth" (thereby shutting down the naysayers).

Yep, always nice to have someone watching your back.  Of course, this all brings us to our word of the month: CORROBORATION.  According to Black's Law Dictionary, CORROBORATION means:

1. Confirmation or support by additional evidence or authority (corroboration of the witness's testimony).  2. Formal confirmation or ratification.  3. Confirmation or support by additional evidence of the date of invention or of a trademarks first use.

So, a funny thing.  The other day I was looking at this definition and while I was thus looking, a young lady came up to me asking an intellectual property issue.

Seems Young Lady had decided to open a store nearby and sell her line of beauty products.  She spent no small amount of cash developing her line and her trademark.  

To her dismay, within the first month of opening shop, she received a cease and desist letter from an attorney informing her that she was using a trademark which was owned by someone else.

Wait a minute.  Even though Young Lady had not actually hung out her shingle, she had been using her Mark for a couple years (after having done her due diligence searching to see if anyone had used her Mark).  So she was not a little befuddled with this letter.

I suggested she take a look at our intellectual property section and read:

• Gilson on Trademarks (Lexis)
• Federal Intellectual Property Codes (O'Connor's)
• Trademark: legal care for your business & product name (Nolo)

and off Young Lady was to strike back at "the man."

Sometimes, just when you think you have your act completely together, life smacks you up side your heal for round two.  Good thing there are law libraries around to help you get up and moving when you get knocked down.