Retirement? Will our present staff take the opportunity? - "Where TradeMark Express came from."

Hello Client, beware this is a 4-parter. Bear with me!

Here’s the “Where TradeMark Express came from from article”, leading to what our staff will decide. Short answer, “We’ll see”.

I’ll follow with the “Good”, “Bad” and “Ugly” articles soon, concerning “The great 2010 collapse of the trademark marketplace”.

Where TradeMark Express grew came from matters. Even from simple beginnings, the common denominator for us has always been a caring staff who take their jobs seriously. They made the effort to learn the tasks at hand to achieve a legally clear registered trademark for our clients. Their approach has been in the best interests of or clients. To get the research right. To take the months of practice to hone a skill, which for many personally tuned into a career. From my Thomson and Thomson Palo Alto two-week training session and the experience I gained from a 4-year trademark case which took me there in the first place.

Eight weeks ago I met with Tom Cook, a recently retired friend for breakfast at the Beach Chalet in San Francisco. Actually, Tom is more than a friend. He’s the first trademark attorney in our client attorney network. It would be accurate to say without Tom Cook, TradeMark Express wouldn’t have ever stumbled upon our unique business model. Expert legal research and free trademark attorney analysis.

It has been 31 years since then and we are still the only trademark service to combine expert comprehensive clearance legal research with free expert trademark attorney consultations for every client. The reality is even the top $600/hour trademark attorney firms outsource or have a paralegal do 90% of the work to trademark a client’s business or product name, logo or slogan. TradeMark Express mirrors top law firms at a mere 25% their high fee.

It was 1994 as we were floundering as a start-up ourselves, providing trademark and common law research only. It was just our second year. Tom called on a Saturday morning wondering if we were open. (Start-ups are always open.) Tom asked who was analyzing our research. No one, I said. I recommended to clients who drove to my Los Altos office to seek a trademark attorney to discuss conflicts and similar names in sound, appearance and meaning. I’d meet most clients in person at my office. I’d explain the couple hundred odd page reports. I’d meet other clients where they were. Sometimes at odd hours convenient for them. For Bob Van Gelder who wanted 6 trademarks for a bird repellent device line, a 10pm meeting at a Van Ness Avenue McDonalds in San Francisco, my bright red Pontiac Fiero engine blew out just 3 blocks away. I digress.

Tom was there as we expanded from just myself to 8 employees. New offices in Costa Mesa and Washington DC. Later Arcata. Additional attorneys joined our attorney network. One from Chicago for our Central State clients in 1997. Another in Washington DC for our East Coast clients in 1999. Both attorneys are still with us today. (If you have hired us, then you know who they are.) Tom himself acquired enough business to break away from Kay & Tawasha to open his own practice in Sausalito. Sorry, no more 15 mile bike rides to work across the Golden Gate Bridge for Tom.

The 3 independent attorneys in our network stuck to us because they could meet people from our extensive marketing machine who had more complex legal needs. Then they could charge their then $200/hour fee. Attorney fees have risen since the 1990’s. In any case, starting clients with a comprehensive clearance legal search to determine where they ACTUALLY stand, is a great point in time to start talking to any trademark attorney.

Because of our very unique offering of being non-attorney research specialists and combination with actual trademark attorneys for free, sales at TradeMark Express steadily grew. From a meager $3k a month, to $6k, then $12k per month. Enough income to barely replace my busted Fiero, barely qualify for a house and then even more barely start a family. Staff members gained a wealth of experience from our increasing flow of clients offering a disparate array of goods and services in their trademark needs.

While in High School Erika Labit Yawger, (https://www.linkedin.com/in/erika-yawger-0603514/), showed her persistence by continuing to drop by my office for work. I finally hired her. Taking everything in, Erika quickly learned all she overheard about the trademark process. Applying herself she turned out to be especially adept at, demonstrating an acute talent, well really anything the tried, even including the hard part – the needed comprehensive clearance legal research.

Dissuading Erika from attending her family preference, SMU to be near her family, I offered her a job while in college if she attended her preference, George Washington University. Erika opened our Washington DC office 6 blocks from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue. She assembled the furniture delivered by Office Depot. She hired, trained and kept together the 6 person staff, all specializing in comprehensive clearance legal research. Work was seamless. Four of those staff members turned out to be trademark attorneys. One is now a Judge in Arizona, Jennifer Barnett Perkins – (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferperkins/). Erika now works at Apple, specializing in IP litigation.

Stacey Fong is a notable former TradeMark Express staff member who also worked here at our Los Altos office. Stacy too, like Erika, was a high schooler when she started at TradeMark Express. Stacy too worked through 4 years of college in Southern California. Stacey became a trademark attorney at Disney for 6 years, (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacey-fong-12114111/). Stacey’s family wasn’t too thrilled with me either as I encouraged her to follow her interests in law, instead of her family’s choice for her – accounting.

I have to include Jacqueline Fanning Redmond too, (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredmond/). Jackie is one of the George Washington University kids who worked at our Washington DC office for 4 years. She too specialized in comprehensive clearance legal research.

Our TradeMark Express’ slow, low key, inauspicious start has proven to be the basis of our success. Because of our steady staff, we’ve been a very stable company over our 33 years. We have had maybe just 70 staff members, 11 are still with us today. Our average staff member has been with us for 13 years. Stability. Expertise.

The common talent thread over the decades has been the continuity of our spectacular staff. So much so, today I face a quandary as I approach retirement. Sometimes the answer seems obvious. On February 12, on a Zoom call, I offered our present staff the opportunity to take over TradeMark Express. Who else has the ability to keep it all together? We’ll see what they decide.

Look at the TradeMark Express numbers:

33 YEARS IN BUSINESS – SINCE 1992.

OLDEST AND MOST SUCCESSFUL TRADEMARK SERVICE IN NORTH AMERICA.

OVER 500,000 STEP-BY-STEP PRELIMINARY, FEDERAL & STATE TRADEMARK AND COMMON LAW COMPREHENSIVE CLEARANCE SEARCHES DONE.

FREE CREATIVE NAMING UPON REQUEST.

FREE 12 EXPERT ATTORNEY NETWORK.

40% OF OUR CLIENTS AVOID LEGALLY BLOCKED TRADEMARKS.

100% SUCCESS RATE SINCE 2008.

Except the top law firms who charge $3,000 to $6,000 for LIKE work, why can’t anyone else get their clients trademark right?

It all adds up when you hire, (or buy), TradeMark Express.

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Thank you,