How to Beat a Trademark Troll™
Weak troll: it wasn't as hard as we thought it would be
Trademark Process
On April 13, 2021 we used Trademark Engine to file a trademark on the word mark “Shill”. Our ownership of a specific use of Shill as a “social media based rewards platform” was accepted on Jan 24, 2022 and pubbed on March 8, 2022.
Once published, the world has 90 days to contest the claim. This is the point in the story when the trademark trolls usually come out to play.
Enter Troll
True to form, on April 7, a bottom-feeding troll lawyer (great combination) named Dan Irwin — “Co-Founder” of a now defunct company called “ShillX.com” reached out to our Founder to discuss “business interests”.
Our Founder reverted this to Counsel at Combs Taylor, who learned from Mr. Irwin that he and his Co-Founder “Jeff Jewett” were launching a decentralized advertising platform named Shill (sound familiar? can you say leak?), and they wanted us to change names and back down from our trademark app so they could use the name.
According to Jeff Jewett:
What an offer, but hard pass, Jeff.
Troll Conflict
There is no way that we were going to change our name and given the facts, it would be confusing to the consumer for both of us to coexist as “Shill”. That is the point of trademarks, to protect consumers from confusion.
Jewett was not happy with our reply and so began a change.org petition against our application and made false claims in which our Founder was portrayed as a “politician with close ties to government” (who knew one could get so far on a small time Mayoral loss), which he subsequently deleted for the current version. 🙄
Jewett then took his tantrum to Twitter to try and rile up other companies and anonymous accounts with Shill in their names. No one cared.
Legal Process
Next, Jewett and Irwin filed an opposition to our mark on the basis that their site was already live (not a valid basis for opposition), that our mark was deceptive (strange, but ok), and that our mark was merely descriptive.
Our team motioned to dismiss the claims as conclusory and without merit. Conclusory means that the opponent made a “self-evident” argument, without any supporting documentation. Their lawyer had a lot of bark but no bite.
Jewett and Irwin failed to respond to our motion to dismiss, which led the court to accept the motion to dismiss with prejudice (not good for ShillX).
On August 8, 2022, the trademark for our use of the word mark “Shill” was subsequently given notice of allowance by the USPTO.
Troll Bites
ShillX’s Co-Founder Jewett became embroiled in claims of running a pump and dump scam, deleted all of his doxxed socials, and erased ShillX.com.
Lessons Learned
Protect your Copyrights; even if you think it’s “not a big deal”
Stay out of the drama; even when the trolls invite you to their level
When push comes to shove; let the professionals manage it
Follow the law
Sometimes, just sometimes, justice prevails over the trolls.