Photograph by Wendy Maeda / The Boston Globe via Getty
Did you know that Kate Spade had not been at the helm of her eponymous label for over a decade?
Using your name as your trademark can help your brand, but can also cause issues.
Her name became one of the most valuable trademarks when she left the company in 2007. She could only use the name to identify herself personally, but was limited to anything beyond that. This means that she gave up rights to use her personal name in a commercial manner.
After selling the trademark and rights to the use of her name in 2016, Kate created a new label called “Frances Valentine,” and even changed her name to “Valentine.”
“In this day and age, with so much media, people are brands, not just the products that people put on their body,” said Bobbi Brown, a make-up guru that sold her own brand to Estée Lauder.
Seeing as how the consumer will only see the name attached to the person, in the future, business owners might want to think twice before naming their companies after themselves.
Article by Carissa Chow