‘Alternative Facts’ Triggers Rash of Trademark Filings

“Alternative facts.” Trump administration advisor Kellyanne Conway created a stir when she coined the phrase in a TV interview. Since then, filings have piled up at the Patent and Trademark Office by people seeking exclusive use of the phrase as a trademark for various goods and services, such as putting on coffee mugs or hats.

It’s common for people to run to the PTO and try and register phrases that enter the public consciousness, trademark lawyers and scholars told Bloomberg BNA. But the filers often don’t understand how the law works and are unlikely to end up with a trademark. ...