Cheers reposted this
Decided to go with the OLD SCHOOL Cheers logo today!!! In all honesty, I still can't believe that we were able to get the "CHEERS" trademark. Here is part of the story... 6 years ago we went on Shark Tank with the registered trademark "THRIVE+"... we rightfully owned the mark. About a year before the episode a larger company reached out to us threatening to sue us if we didn't sign a co-existence agreement with them to let them get their "THRIVE" mark registered as well. Evidently they had been trying to get the "THRIVE" mark for decades... and I, just a junior in college, had crafted the right argument with the USPTO to get "THRIVE _____" and "_____ THRIVE" marks approved. (I.e., the "THRIVE" is formative, and therefore could be combined with other words to make a unique mark, just like had been done for other common words with wide usage.) Yes, I was able to figure that out in college without lawyers. It helps to be a newcomer to any industry as you think anything is possible. Lawyers are still impressed to this day that I got this done. 🤣 So when I was able to get "THRIVE+" trademark granted, that company realized that I had beat the system, then needed to reach out to me as the gatekeeper so as to finally get their mark approved. Realizing this was above my college cleverness, I reached out to legal counsel to negotiate the co-existence agreement with them. They would get the mark for MLMs and general vitamins/supplements. I would get the mark for alcohol-related supplement usage. No court needed—which was important because I had like $3500 at the time. Shortly after our episode, we received a frivolous demand letter in the mail saying that in our Shark Tank episode we violated our co-existence agreement by saying: "Our product is somewhere between a multivitamin for people who drink and a hangover cure." How doesn't that count as alcohol-related supplement usage...? Beats me. I asked the lawyers if we'd win the case. They said: "Absolutely. But these people are highly litigious, do $400m/year, and have in-house lawyers. So unless you have about $2m and 3-4 years to spare... it may be easier and cheaper to rebrand." That was a rude awakening to the American legal system. Basically, whoever is willing to stick it out in court longer and lose more money wins. I.e., it's a war of attrition. Obviously, I was pretty bummed. The Shark Tank episode had given a ton of equity to our brand name. But... better to rebrand and live to fight another day. How we decided on the name "Cheers"... and better yet, how we actually got the trademark for the name Cheers... is all the story for another day! 🙂 But, the happy ending is that we successfully rebranded, avoided litigation, and through the use of good SEO and PR, were able to make sure no one was confused that the Thrive+ on Shark Tank is now called Cheers.